In most cases, grass and silage alone does not offer lactating and transition dairy cows with enough essential trace elements for optimal digestion, immunity, growth and development.
A deficiency in one or more of the essential trace elements – cobalt, copper, iodine, and selenium – can manifest as costly clinical or sub-clinical health challenges.
E.g., the effect of calving date slippage under a 12-week breeding season, amounts to €52.90 per heat missed respectively.
The difference between a heifer calving at 24 months as opposed to 26 months, is 16% of total rearing costs.
Both calving index and age-at-first-calving are key performance indicators influenced by trace element nutrition during the transition period.
With this, the transition dry cow period is one of the most important points in a lactation to get right, both for the lactating cow and her new-born calf.
It provides farmers with an opportunity to minimise feed costs, reduce complication risk, and increase production efficiency.
However, the transition period is also one of the trickiest points to get right.
Smoother transition
As the unborn calf increases in weight and size by 75-80% during the last three months of pregnancy, the cow’s rumen becomes more restricted, and her appetite naturally decreases.
This is one of the key contributors to the fact that from drying off to early lactation, cows often experience a 25-40% ‘dip’ in immunity, making them more prone to the health challenges that impact productivity.
With all these critical factors, plus the labour challenge at play, a team of scientists, vets, and farmers at Animax have developed an advanced bolus that can supply lactating cows weighing 500kg or over with enough essential trace elements for up to six months in one single bolus application.
Animax Tracesure Cattle XL has effectively concentrated multiple boluses into one, meaning less time and labour spent on bolusing.
In just minutes, farmers can be sure that their dry cows will have enough trace elements during the transition dry cow period, and then on into the most critical points of the lactation.
No more or less, and no peaks or troughs.
Patented waxed-groove diffusion technology
Complementary to any type of farming operation and feeding system, Animax Tracesure Cattle XL is an advanced precision nutrition technology.
Find out how it works once inside the cow by clicking the video below.
As described in the video, the single application is as result of the new waxed-groove diffusion technology, which regulates the rate of trace element release.
The bolus maintains the same weight over the six-month supplementation period, meaning that there is a much lesser risk of regurgitation, or passing in the faeces before the bolus has completed supplementing.
Concentrated levels of trace elements
Owing to this new waxed-groove diffusion technology, Animax Tracesure Cattle XL is the only bolus on the market that can offer enough trace elements at the required levels in one single application.
This provides significant labour-saving opportunity compared to other boluses on the market which require two-four additional applications.
Trace element Supply per day (mg) Supply per bolus (mg) Compared to other boluses (mg) Cobalt 2.8 ≈ 500 396-500 Copper 167 / 333 ≈ 60,000 11,500-32,000 Iodine 18.9 / 37.8 ≈ 6,800 2,000-5,000 selenium 2.8 / 5.6 ≈ 1,000 180-500
Animax Tracesure Cattle XL is available with copper as a separate bolus which is offered in the same bolus application.
As important as trace element quantities, is trace element bioavailability. Bioavailability is the ability of the trace elements to be absorbed and used by the body.
Different boluses in the marketplace supply trace elements from different sources, which can impact on actual utilised by the animal. Therefore, more is not always better.
Animax Tracesure has been formulated with trace elements specially selected for bioavailability, meaning less trace elements down the drain and more trace elements utilised by the system.
Cobalt is converted by rumen bacteria into vitamin B12, Animax Tracesure offers a form of cobalt that is more readily available in the rumen and thus utilised by the animal.
Copper is required by critical enzymes in energy cycles, hormone production and red blood cell metabolism. Animax Tracesure is available with copper as a separate bolus that can be given in the same application as the wax-grooved bolus.
Working within the rumen of transition cows
Once in the rumen, the bolus dissolves rapidly, releasing copper oxide needles that lodge in the walls of the rumen.
The needles then gradually pass to the abomasum where they slowly dissolve and pass into the small intestine to be absorbed.
The copper oxide needles are manufactured in the Animax production facility to ensure structural integrity of the copper oxide needles, and in turn, bioavailability of the trace element.
Iodine is a critical component of the thyroid hormone which regulates metabolism and subsequently all body functions.
Animax Tracesure contains two types of iodine – one for an immediate supply, and a slower less soluble form for a longer-term supply.
The product, with its patented diffusion technology, allows for the safe incorporation of high levels of selenium.
It is still important to ensure total selenium is not at a high risk level, so always consult with a suitably qualified person or vet before supplying.
Proactive bolus programme
The ideal time to give your lactating dairy cows their bolus is at the point of drying off 6-8 weeks pre-calving, or as soon as possible in the dry cow period.
This is easily absorbed into the drying-off routine, taking only minutes to administer but covering them for months to come and up until the pre-breeding time.
