It is not a period where we forget about the cow. How we manage that cow, and how we feed that cow now, has direct implications on how well she will milk and rebreed and on her subsequent health once she calves. Long gone are the days when producers could turn dry cows out on pasture, feed them a little hay, silage or some bunk scrapings and forget about them until calving. A cow is most susceptible to mastitis two weeks after dry-off, two weeks before she calves and two weeks after she calves. The immune system of the cow is down naturally, and without proper amounts of these minerals and vitamins we decrease her ability to fight off disease.
Proper nutrition becomes even more critical for the close-up group.
Research indicates that most cows may reduce their feed intake as much as 40 percent in the three to five days before calving, despite the need for increased nutrients. Amaral-Phillips says the solution is to increase the nutrient density of the diet as calving nears. At the same time, dairymen should realize that dry matter intake a week before calving has a direct impact on intake three weeks after calving. It used to be that we took the cow up slowly on grain after calving. Now we try to accomplish some of that before calving so the cow is ready to go in and maximize dry matter intake.