Ketosis has garnered a lot of interest in the last few years. Recent research has pointed to the role of ketosis as a gateway condition for transition cow health events and loss of milk production.

TechMix introduces a new product for treating ketosis: Propylene Advantage. This product is nutrition technology that combines propylene glycol with glycerine.

In recent decades, genetic advancement has improved milk production and composition but at the cost of fertility and life span. At the beginning of lactation, cows have high energy requirements due to an increase in milk production. When a cow is unable to consume enough energy, excessive body fat mobilization will occur, resulting in loss of body condition, indicating a negative energy balance.

Calving and the subsequent transition into lactation are the greatest challenges in the productive life of a dairy cow. Cows must deal with a high demand for energy and nutrients to make colostrum and milk. But this demand cannot be met by feed intake alone – which leads to negative energy balance (NEB) and nutrient deficiencies.

We’ve heard a lot of buzz over the last couple years about subclinical ketosis in fresh cows, different methods for testing and how subclinical ketosis affects cows. In the spring of 2012, we started an on-farm survey to determine the level of subclinical ketosis present in several Upper Midwest herds using Abbott’s Precision Xtra blood meter.

Researchers from Cornell University and the University of Wisconsin recently published results from a field trial looking at the effects of propylene glycol on milk yield and resolution of ketosis in fresh cows diagnosed with subclinical ketosis in the Journal of Dairy Science.