El4-LmcMt*r Faming, Saturday, April 4,1M7
Magnesium Deficiency Less Common But Just As Severe In Dairy Herds
BY DR. GEORGE
F.W.HAENLEIN
Extension Dairy Specialist
University of Delaware
NEWARK, Del. In years past,
the arrival of spring often brought
some rather unique problems for
corns in our dairy herds. These
problems seem to have vanished,
not because of our success in
treating thgm, but because herd
management on dairy farms in
this part of the country has
changed drastically.
We used to keep our milk cows on
pasture most of the year, and early
spring grazing often brought on
grass tetany a frequently fatal
metabolic disorder due to low
blood levels of magnesium. Young,
highly succulent pasture grass
usually has very poor magnesium
availability.
Now that most mid-Atlantic
dairy herds are kept on con
finement or semi-confinement
most of the year, magnesium
deficiency is less likely to show up
in this dramatic form. But this
doesn’t make magnesium any less
important a mineral nutrient in
our dairy cattle rations.
Adult Holstein cows contain
about half a pound of elemental
magnesium, stored mostly in their
bones, as a reserve which is slowly
but constantly mobilized for use in
body tissues and metabolic
reactions. A magnesium shortage
in their system can cause
anorexia, excitability, rigidly
extended legs, convulsions,
frothing, excessive salivation and
death. A deficiency can occur in
circulating body fluids because
magnesium availability varies
greatly due both to slow bone
mobilization and, sometimes, very
low gut absorption from
inadequate dietary sources.
TTNGLEY TOOGBS
FARM AND OUTDOOR FOOTWEAR
I #l5OO
Knee Boot
Sm - 6Vi - 8
Med-8-9'2
Lg.-9 , /*-Il
X Lg. -11 -13
Giant-13-15
*15.25
Children's
1 Button Boot
(2700 Series)
A-6«/W
D-11 -13
F-2-4
G-4-6
•7^25
Order $20.00 Or More
And We Pay The FreigM
Key-Aid Distributors
225 Wood Corner Rd., Lititz, PA 17543
717-738-4241
CtHUsMFmI
1-800-453-9243
In PA Call 1-800-253-9243
Magnesium absorption in young
milk-fed calves may be as high as
70 percent, while magnesium
availability in early pasture forage
may range from as low as 7 per
cent up to 33 percent. Magnesium
is easier to absorb from older
pasture grass which is just the
opposite of the digestibility of other
nutrients, protein and energy.
Preserved forages have a better
magnesium availability and so do
grain supplements.
Milk that the cow produces is
-relatively high in magnesium
about 0.013 percent or a quarter
ounce when a high-milking cow
produces 100 pounds per day or
more.
This magnesium loss must be
replaced daily from the cow’s
bones which, as I’ve said, contain
only 8 ounces and from dietary
sources whose absorption rate can
be less than 10 percent.
A typical basic ration of, for
example, 45 pounds corn silage has
a gross content (not net after
absorption) of only 2 ounces of
magnesium, leaving a sup
plemental feeding need of maybe 2
to 3 ounces of magnesium for a
high milking cow even in the
absence of lush spring pasture
grass. Thus, to be on the safe side,
high amounts of magnesium 4 or
more ounces per day may be
needed in the ration to keep that
cow well and milking high.
Fortunately, cows can tolerate
excess magnesium very well.
What a cow doesn’t use, she
readily excretes in the urine. Five
ounces of magnesium in the form
of magnesium oxide have been fed
to cows to correct low milkfat
problems, without ill effects. This
supplement thus not only has the
benefit of a digestive buffer to help
reduce low milkfat' problems, but
#1400.10"
1 Closure Boot
Sm. - 6Vi - 8
Med. - 8 - 9‘/2
Lg.-9 , /2-ll
X Lg. -11 -13
Giant -13-15
•11.95
#l3OO Hi Top
Work Rubbers
Sm - 6 1 /z - 8
Med - 8 - 9‘/2
Lg.-9>/ 2 -ll m
X Lg. -11 -13 lU
GianM^M^
We Ship UPS Everyday
can also be a safeguard against
low metabolic magnesium
problems.
Recent medical research has
shed additional light on the
metabolic importance of
Mohr Named Outstanding Holstein Youth
NEW ENTERPRISE - Becky
Mohr of Bakers Summit, daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. Andy Mohr,
received the outstanding senior
Holstein award during the annual
Bedford County Holstein banquet
held recently at the Northern
Bedford High School.
Mohr, a senior at NB, owns 16
Holsteins 10 cows and six
heifers. She has been a member of
the Southern Cove 4-H Dairy Club
for 10 years, the Junior Holstein
Club for 10 years and has shown
cattle at load, district and state
4-H shows. Last year she won third
place in the Junior division with her
3-year-old Holstein cow at
Harrisburg.
Three directors were elected for
a three-year term: Duane Biddle,
Russell Wyles and Kenneth
Mowry, all of Roaring Spring RD.
Kenneth Raney, state director of
membership, briefly spoke on the
advantages of being a member of
the Holstein Association. He added
that merchandising registered
Holsteins has become a good op
portunity for the Holstein farmer.
YOU TEST THEIR FORAGE -
WHY NOT THEIR WATER
Water with high levels of nitrate, sulfate,
and bacteria can affect your herds
HEALTH AND PRODUCTION
WE SPECIALIZE IN WATER TREATMENT ON DAIRY FARMS
Our water conditioning methods reduce those robbing nitrates,
sulfates, and bacteria to proper levels resulting in a healthier herd
with improved milk production and higher butterfat.
Contact us for a test of your herd's water supply and information on
our proven installations.
MARTIN WATER CONDITIONING
PHONE 717-866-7555 PHONE 717-393-3612
magnesium as a facilitator of
calcium metabolism. Magnesium
and calcium both help blood
vessels tp contract and relax
properly, and magnesium
regulates the entry and exit
process of calcium in the smooth
A sharp increase in the export
market has increased domestic
sales.
Kenneth Mowry, director, noted
that since 1978, the state has given
an award for the outstanding
farmer in the association. This
year the prestigious award was
given to Obie Snider, owner of
Singing Brook Farms of Imler.
Mowry reported on the Holstein
tour scheduled for Thursday,
March 19, to Chester County.
Highlights of the tour will in
clude the following: New Bolton
Center, a large animal facility for
the University of Pennsylvania’s
School of Veterinary Medicine that
serves as one of the nation’s major
veterinary medical referral
centers for large animals;
Longwood Gardens, a 1,000-acre
preserve of which 350 acres are
open to the public that was
originally created as one of
America’s first tree parks;
Marlboro Mushrooms, a
mushroom farm owned by Charles
and Jane Brosius and three sons;
Maplewood Farms, a Holstein
farm owned and operated by
JY
740 EAST LINCOLN AVE.
MYERSTOWN. PA 17067
Early Morning & Evening Call 717/345-8795
E Y
.Y • IN
IPPI
548 NEW HOLLAND AVE
LANCASTER, PA 17602
muscle cells, thereby dropping
blood pressure.
For people as well as calves,
milk is an important source of
magnesium. Let’s not short change
the magnesium supply to our cows
either.
Donald Hostetter. The herd has 87
cows on test with an average of
over 19,950 pounds of milk and 720
pounds of fat.
An announcement was made
that Junior Field Day will be held
April 15 at the Andy Mohr farm in
Bakers Summit. The judge for the
event will be Berneta Gable of New
Enterprise. Dr. Barry England,
veterinarian from Williamsburg,
will hold an informative session on
the uterus of a cow.
The group will have the op
portunity to tour the new Virginia
style heifer barn built last fall on
the Mohr farm. According to Scott,
Mohr’s son, the 112-by-46-foot
structure has an open front and
open ridge for ventilation.
Featured in the barn is open
housing with head locks in the
front. It has a scrape alley and a
sloped bedded pack in the rear,
sloped <me inch to the foot. Corn
fodder is used as the bedding. “The
barn is something we really
needed because we had no large
facility to house heifers,’’' said
Mohr.
PIT
IR PR