X-Zelit attributed to healthier cows at a Devon Farm

John Bacon and Ian Vanstone milk 350 Holstein Friesians at RHJ Dairy in Devon. The herd is all year round calving.

The farm has been using the dry cow treatment – X-Zelit for over 7 years.

John comments, “Previous to using X-Zelit we were milking 300 cows and found approximately 20% of the herd were coming down with milk fever. As well as treating those cows, as a precaution we’d always give the 3rd calvers upwards a bottle of calcium.”

“Since using X-Zelit, it is very rare that we get any milk fever. With the herd size now expanded to 350, I’d say it’s reduced to approximately 3% across the year. It’s not just the milk fever reduction where there has been a benefit, we don’t see as many problems with calvings. We’ve had no retained cleansings and the cows just have more energy once they’ve calved. We are also finding they are transitioning a lot quicker.”

“We actually stopped using X-Zelit, one winter when we were struggling for space to group the dry cows. It really didn’t work out and we won’t be stopping again as it made such a big difference!”

〈 BACK

We had problems with milk fever before using DC X-Zel. Since using it, this has greatly reduced. The cows clean up really well post calving to the point we have reduced post calving checks, all we do is routines and Pd’s. We have found the cows calve down well and don’t lose as much condition, they appear healthier and colostrum quality is also improved.