Inflammation is not limited to obvious clinical cases; it’s a normal biological process that takes place every day in a cow. We should recognize it as part of the cow’s constant physiologic balancing act, and one that becomes especially delicate during the transition period.

Modern research clearly shows that metabolic dysregulation during the transition period, particularly involving protein supply and inflammatory tone, strongly influences early lactation performance, disease incidence, reproductive outcomes and overall herd profitability.

There are many single measurements that you can use to monitor your transition cow program, like gestation length, dry period length, calving ease, abortions, etc. However, combining all these into a single easy-to-understand measure will save time and will be easier to track over time. The new Fresh Cow Index (FCI) was developed to determine if your herd transition cow management program is successful.

The decision to feed an acidogenic ration to late-pregnant dairy cows is a very easy one, as there is no better strategy to initiate the mechanisms of calcium metabolism to meet the sudden high demand for this critical mineral surrounding the time of calving.

Chromium has become a useful addition to transition diets. Supplementing with 6 to 8 milligrams per cow daily has been shown to significantly boost dry matter intake, energy efficiency and cow resilience. New data shows that these benefits go beyond fresh cows, supporting chromium supplementation throughout the entire lactation.