Feeding and Management of Perinatal Dairy cows

Perinatal cows refer to cows within 15 days before and after delivery, when the incidence of cows is higher than in the middle and later stages of lactation. According to statistics, 70% of adult cow deaths occur in this period. At this stage, feeding and management should focus on the health care of cows and calves to prevent the occurrence of diseases.

Feeding and management of cows before delivery

The reproductive organs of cows are most likely to be infected with bacteria before delivery. In order to reduce bacterial infection, cows should be transferred to the delivery room for 14 days before delivery. The delivery room must be disinfected with 2% caustic soda water in advance, and then covered with clean and dry mat grass, and a routine disinfection system must be established. The cow should also be sanitary before entering the delivery room. Its hindquarters and vulva are washed with 23% Su water and then dried with a towel.

The feeding of cows before parturition should be based on high-quality hay and gradually increase the concentrate, which can be appropriately increased for weak clinical cattle and reduced for overfattened clinical cattle. Cows 7 days before delivery can be fed with more concentrate as appropriate, and the amount of feed should be gradually increased, and the maximum amount should not exceed 1% of the cow's body weight, which will help the cow to adapt to the changes of large amount of milking and feeding after delivery. For cows with severe breast edema before delivery, concentrate should not be fed more. Within 3 days before parturition, wheat bran can be appropriately increased in concentrate to prevent constipation. In general, the ratio of concentrate to roughage is 39:61.