Benefits of Drenching
You’re faced with many potential costly health concerns with your dairy herd, including ketosis, milk fever, mastitis and retained placenta.
These illnesses and others reduce dry matter intake (DMI) and deplete nutrients needed for healthy milk production. As little as 24 hours off feed changes rumen pH. Good bacteria dies off and it gets more difficult to get your cows back on feed.
Many farm trials show that supplementing with high levels of calcium propionate can help restore both energy and calcium in fresh cows.
Furthermore, providing cows with 100-150 gramds of calcium through calcium propionate lowers the risk of milk fever. It also reduces symptoms of subclinical hypocalcemia, including depressed immune system, poor muscle tone and higher incidences of displaced abomasum (DA).
The energy available from this dosage of calcium propionate also helps lower the risk of ketosis and related disorders.
Drenching is one of the most beneficial ways to increase treatment success rates in your herd when they are off feed, especially when you select the correct drench mix. Drenching is a convenient way to administer essential nutrients for both treatment and prevention strategies.
For sick cows – drenching helps improve the chances of a full recovery and quicker return to productivity.
For transition cow management – drenching helps fresh cow transition problems and enhances milk production in early lactation.
As reported in Dairy Herd Management by Maureen Hanson in “The Cost of the World’s Top 12 Dairy Diseases,” Aug. 7, 2024
Calcium propionate + alfalfa = restored energy and essential nutrients
All drench mixes on the market are not created equal. Often they do not have effective enough levels of key ingredients to provide both instant and residual energy to get cows back to peak milk production. When using the right drench mix, drenching is one of the most beneficial ways to increase treatment success for more than a dozen cow health problems, as well as help prevent them from occurring.
However, AAS PowerPak™ Drench Mix and Calcium Boost™ Drench Mix do. They are both formulated with the correct dosage of calcium propionate and alfalfa to treat – and prevent – many symptoms that affect milk production.
Let’s take a deeper look
Calcium propionate
Effective at replenishing energy and calcium for both sick and fresh cows
- The energy from adequate amounts of calcium propionate has been shown to help increase the success rate in treating dairy cows
- Many drench products do not provide adequate amounts of calcium propionate to be beneficial
Alfalfa
Equally important is alfalfa, which provides an excellent source of nutrients for rumen bugs
- These beneficial microbes produce volatile fatty acids (acetic, butyric and propionic), which cows use as an energy source
- Other important benefits include high protein content and a high proportion of soluble protein and rumen-degradable protein (RDP)
How To Drench
Drenching your herd is simple, and able to be done by one person when using an esophageal tube and pump.
- Prepare the appropriate amount of drench mix – per AAS product label directions – with five or more gallons of water
- Restrain the cow to reduce her ability to swing her head
- Insert the speculum and hose through the esophagus and into the rumen
- Slowly pump the drench solution
Watch Dr. Joe Bender of Agriculture Veterinary Associates as he demonstrates his technique to properly drench cows step by step.
Be sure to consult with your veterinarian for more information about proper use and drench technique.
Don’t get impatient during pumping. The cow should be chewing on the tube when you pump.
- Pumping too fast causes reflux into the esophagus and throat
- Never hook up the drench system to a motorized pump; it will exceed the cow’s ability to get the liquid into the rumen and may drown the cow
Check placement of the tube before pumping. You will usually feel two hard objects in the throat rather than one.
- This is a sign that you have succeeded in placing the tube into the esophagus
- Feeling just one hard object means your tube is inside the trachea
Cows can be drenched 1 to 2 times per day
- Limit drenching to 2 times per 24 hours
The AAS Drench System provides a simple way to administer large amounts of fluid and comes complete with all the items you need.