Never allow your cow to eat placenta
Do you keep a dairy cow so that they can just rear their calves or for commercial milk production?
In advanced dairy production systems, we do not allow a newborn calf to even suckle her mother a single moment. We do bucket feeding and therefore creating the bond between the cow and the calf by allowing them to eat placenta is a lame argument!
You can’t shy away from the fact that there will be digestive disturbances when a cow feeds on flesh. It will erode essential microflora from the rumen and risk allowing toxins cross into the blood leading to adverse health effects.
Furthermore, during early lactation we need the cow to be free from any metabolic challenges – (related to feeding). If we aren’t careful, diseases like ketosis and milk fever can set in. Coupled with the physiology/normal phenomenon where animals that recently calved down decline in appetite, what do you think will be the effect to milk yield?
Does placenta have hormones that can boost milk yield? Yes it does but they will be of no use in this context. Here are the reasons;
Why do cows crave for the placenta?
The placenta is rich in nutrients fats, oils, protein and trace/micro elements that are normally deficient in a cow’s body especially after calving yet she needs more of them. This attracts the cow to consume it.
Can we prevent it from occurring?
Yes, it is possible to prevent this VICE! It is a vice since it compromises the well being of the animal. You can be able to prevent then from falling victim by preparing your cow better for the milking/lactation phase. Providing them with supplements that help in proper steaming up not only deals with the vice but also puts her in a position to reach peak production faster.
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Have you heard about Restore® program?
Restore® is a 3-month program to revive health, improve body condition, eliminate silent and delayed onset of heat and increase milk yield in dairy cattle. Dairyverse Experts will visit your farm on Day 1, Day 30 and Day 60 for interventions leading to achievement of the aforementioned goals. We offer this service in all parts of Kenya. The following are sample success stories;
Could you like us to visit your your farm? We visit individual farms. If you could like us to visit yours in 2025, kindly follow this link to express your interest;
👉 https://bit.ly/Restore®_County_Tours
