Over-fat Dexter cow.

[Charlotte Brown]

I have a little short-leg Dexter cow, now in calf for the second time. It had taken ages to get her in calf the first time, and though she had exactly the same amount of food as the rest of my animals, she had grown very fat. The first delivery was awful, the calf coming backwards, delivered by winch by the vet. Her fatness made the situation worse and it took a long time for her to take to her calf.
She is due to calve in early January but already she is looking fat and blubbery, although we havent got that much grass. What is the best way to slim her down without harming the developing calf? Does she need some minimum amount, and if so what?
Would be glad of your thoughts. Thank you. Charlotte Brown.

[Duncan MacIntyre]

Hello Charolotte, this is a tricky one. The size of the calf is much influenced by the early development of the placenta, and that stage is now well past - so potentially the cow has a very well developed placenta which will be likely to give a relatively big calf - of course the sire will also have some influence - have you any info on calvings to that bull in the past? The main thing to do is to try to reduce the excess fat on the cow - I would suggest mainly straw diet, and some dry cow feed as used by the dairy farmers for optimum feeding of holstein type cows, which are always on a knife edge nutritionally. You will probably not find it easy to get the dry cow nuts in small quantity, maybe best to try to buy some from a local dairy farmer as most of these things come in bulk nowadays. Try to keep the cow as mobile as possible, don't allow her to stay confined in a small space with little exercise so she keeps as physically fit as possible. If you know the service date to which she has settled then induction of calving a week or two early is also an option, but I would discuss that with your vet.

Duncan

[Charlotte Brown]

Thank you for this comprehensive reply Duncan. The sire is Donardgrange Rob. I have left her steer calf born last July with her, he is still taking swigs of milk. I thought this might stop her getting any fatter, but might this be demanding too much calcium from her? In a nutshell, what do dry cow nuts provide for the animal? Presumably nutrition without predisposing her to becoming even more fat.
Thanks again.

[Duncan MacIntyre]

If she calved in July 2010 that is not as long ago as I had thought. But he will probably not be getting very much now. I would leave him with her till beginning of December, but put her on low energy rations now. The blood calcium drop at calving is a complex issue dependant on various factors, such as age, genetics, oral intake, etc but the most important is the age of the cow - the older they are the harder it is for them to withdraw enough calcium to make up the deficit created by the sudden demand as milk is produced. In younger cows and heifers there is a lot of "trabecular bone which has a large surface area in contact with blood vessels and resporbtion of calcium from bone to blood is easy. As they age the bone is more solid and less can be withdrawn from the bone to the blood in a hurry, so a drop causing milk fever is more likely. This is why it is unusual even in a dairy cow to get milk fever under the 3rd or 4th calver stage. Unless your cow is old milk fever is not too likely. The constant production of milk, even if the quantity is reducing, will mean she is geared up to maintaining blood calcium levels in the meantime. Once you have the calf off her, it is more important to keep the dietary calcium low so she still has to withdraw some from bone. The amount of calcium in bone is totally massive compared to the small amount needed in the blood at any given time.

If my cows are retaining condition I generally leave calves on till about a month before they are due to calve, and have sometimes left calves with the mother right through. It is amazing how the calf weans itself as the next calving approaches, and the new calf gets free access to the milk without the pestering of the mother for milk which might be expected. I didn't believe this till I tried it on my own cows.

Do keep us informed as things go on, it is useful for others to see what happens in different situations discussed on this board.

Duncan

[Charlotte Brown]

I will let everyone know how she gets on, and will hope for a less nightmarish birth for her this time. She is five years old. When people see my cow they say "God! Isn't she FAT!" which makes me feel incompetent but she has exactly the same regime as my other normal-looking Dexters. She just seems prone to piling on weight. I will try to prevail. Many thanks for your advice.
Charlotte Brown

[Saffy]

Hello Charlotte,

I have nothing to add to the excellent advice already given by Duncan. I just wanted to say that I have had the opposite with one cow. During her first few lactations she would get very thin, none of the others did and so when she was dried off I had to feed her on her own once a day just to get some weight back on her. Now she is older she is managing better. I suspect yours is a more common problem though.

Stephanie

[Broomcroft]

Fat is bad news and it's too late to do anything much other than what Duncan has said. Your cow still needs nutrition though...catch 22. I'd speak to your vet and if he/she agrees, I'd get things ready for a caesarean. I'm not saying it'll be needed, but best to get things ready, i.e. restraint method (head collar, somewhere to tie it to low down, location (pen indoors), extra cleanliness, clean buckets, source of hot water, whatever the vet says. A CS would cost me about £200.

I think it's important to leave calves on Dexters as late as you can unless you have very poor grazing. Like Duncan, we also leave ours suckling almost until they are having the next calf.

[LISA]

Some cows remain fat all their lives despite calving every year, and controlled rations. We have one cow "Fat Lizzie" who has calved every year without fail and gets easily back into calf again. In the years before we had children she also used to double-suckle a commercial calf every year (she is a prolific milker, and still fat!)
We have a Cattle Food Rep who likes to condition score all the cattle, Fat Lizzie isn't on his charts! Our vet also comments on her size when he P.D's her, and apologieses to her when she is diagnosed incalf. (Both these people are REALLY SKINNY, which we joke about with them!)
So personally I wouldn't get too hung up on her size, thats just the way she is. Certainly keep an extra eye on her at calving but chances are she will be fine, and calve naturally next time. Fat Lizzie also had a mis presented calf first time, requiring veterinary assistance, she must have had eight calves since then - ALL FINE, NATURAL,UNASSISTED CALVINGS - BUT STILL FAT.
Best Wishes
Lisa Bell - Over Fat Owner!!! (Straw Diet and more exercise tomorrow!)

[Charlotte Brown]

This is all really helpful and kind of everybody. Many thanks.

[Charlotte Brown]

Just to let everyone know that all is well. My cow though still fat, waddled off on the morning of 4th Jan, found an amenable spot, pushed for about twenty minutes and produced a stunning little red non-short bull calf. She is delighted with it and there was none of the rejection we had after the difficult delivery of her first calf which came backwards. The fatness though not ideal did not seem to trouble her at all. Thanks for everyone's advice and opinions. We are very well pleased with the outcome but will try to slim her down for the next time.

[Tim Watson]

Is there any chance of some photos? I would really appreciate some idea of what you feel is over-fat and also to look at the calf.
Many thanks

[Broomcroft]

Here's a body condition scoring video, seems quite good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjbekWP1rHs

[littleacre]

congrats. am i correct in saying the shorts do suffer from fatness more than the non shorts ?? i have one short and she is very fat and a bit lopsided to be honest . bigger one side than the other . no matter what i do she just dosnt change but has given me no problem getting into calf or having calves any one shed any light on the lop sided belly ?

[Inger]

Yes, I have found that the carriers are more prone to getting fat, than the non-carriers.

I have seen a solution to giving her more exercise. A pony owner had a paddock divided off around the edge, with an electric tape. So that there was a grazing strip all around the perimeter of the paddock, which meant that the pony had to walk further as it grazed. This could be a solution for your overweight cow. Hopefully she won't mind grazing by herself? Although, you could put the other cows in the centre of the paddock, so that she has company, but can't eat as much.

Glad she calved without problems this time.