Influence of prepartum calcium intake on calcium mobilization rate around parturition in dairy cows fed at a high prepartum feeding level

Abstract

The influence of a low and a high prepartum calcium (Ca) intake on Ca mobilization rate around parturition was studied in 44 dairy cows fed a ration sufficient for 1.90 times maintenance requirements during the dry period. The plasma Ca level declined on the day of parturition in the group fed the low Ca intake (LCa: 26.4 g/d) as well as in the group fed the high Ca intake (HCa: 87.2 g/d). Plasma Ca levels of the HCa group were lower at parturition, and in this group 1 cow had milk fever after parturition. In the HCa group 6 cows had a plasma Ca level less than or equal to 2.0 mmol/l at parturition and/or 10 h post-partum (pp), versus 1 cow in the LCa group. Na2EDTA was intravenously infused at 10 h pp to induce hypocalcaemia to a level of plasma Ca not bound to EDTA of approximately 1.0 mmol/l. The LCa groups tended to require more Na2EDTA than the HCa groups, however the difference was significant only in the younger cows. After the Na2EDTA infusion 7 cows of the HCa group and 1 of the LCa group did not recover spontaneously and needed to be treated. The mean plasma PTH levels of the LCa group ante-partum were slightly higher than those of the HCa group. The Ca level of the prepartum ration did not influence urinary hydroxyproline excretion, which suggests that the Ca intake of 26.4 g/d was too high to stimulate bone turnover. Comparison of the present results with those of an earlier experiment in which the prepartum Ca intake at a low feeding level (1.12 times maintenance) was studied, led to the conclusion that higher prepartum feed intake has a clear negative influence on Ca homeostasis around parturition.

Measurement of urine pH and net acid excretion and their association with urine calcium excretion in periparturient dairy cows

“…However, the observed U pH -NAE relationship was very similar to that observed in 11 nonpregnant, nonlactating Holstein-Friesian cows in Germany that received intraruminal infusions of different formulations of acidifying salts (Gelfert et al, 2007), and similar to that observed in 8 nonlactating Holstein cows in Wisconsin fed different anionic salts (Vagnoni and Oetzel, 1998). Moreover, the urine [Ca]-U pH relationship in late-ges-tation dairy cows is influenced primarily by the ration DCAD (Vagnoni and Oetzel, 1998;Roche et al, 2003;Martín-Tereso and Verstegen, 2011) and minimally influenced by the Ca content of the ration (Ramberg et al, 1984;van de Braak et al, 1986;Kronqvist et al, 2011). This is because the dairy cow is able to control the rate of Ca uptake from the gastrointestinal tract and Ca mobilization from bone in response to changes in ration Ca content (Ramberg et al, 1976(Ramberg et al, , 1984.…”

“…Although 24 h urine collection would have been ideal, our intent was to characterize the performance of a practical test for routine herd monitoring. The assumption of constant Crea excretion appears reasonable, because mean urinary Crea excretion in dairy cows remained constant during the week before or after parturition (van de Braak et al, 1986).…”

Milk Fever Control Principles: A Review

“…On the other hand [59] found that a 100% overfeeding with energy (and 80% overfeeding with protein) during the last 8 weeks of pregnancy resulted in an increased incidence of parturient paresis. Accordingly [13,14] found that overfeeding cows prepartum increased the incidence of milk fever. [23] found no effect of energy intake prepartum.…”

Symposium review: Transition cow calcium homeostasis—Health effects of hypocalcemia and strategies for prevention

“…Active, transcellular Ca transport that mediates Ca transport in absence of favorable gradients is generally accepted to be a 3-step process. In the small intestine, Ca enters the cell mainly via the transient receptor potential vanilloid channel type 6 (TRPV6; Peng et al, 1999), is bound to the cytosolic protein calbindin-D 9K (CaBP D9K ;Bronner, 1987), translocated to the basolateral membrane, and extruded predominantly by the plasma membrane Ca 2+ -ATPase isoform 1b (van Abel et al, 2003). These transport proteins have been detected in the small intestine of sheep, goats, and cows (Yamagishi et al, 2006;Wilkens et al, 2011;Wilkens et al, 2012b;Schröder et al, 2015).…”