The transition period can be a stressful time for cows and needs to be well managed.

As many autumn calving herds will begin to start calving down in the next couple of weeks, the transition period management should be an area of concern for farmers.

The transition period is defined as the three weeks prior to calving to the three weeks post-calving, and is a key determinant of the future productivity and performance in your herd.

This period can lay the foundation to a successful calving season, followed by high quality milk production, and prevent any issues with reproduction and fertility.

One of the major negative impacts of poor transition cow management is immunosuppression and it can lead to higher disease incidence, poorer production and reproduction, high incidences of metabolic issues, mastitis, and high somatic cell count (SCC), which may prove to be very costly.

For the majority of farmers, the highest incidence of disease occurs within the first three weeks after calving, with milk fever posing the biggest threat.

Whether it is a seasonal low yielding system or a year-round higher output system, the principles of transition cow management are the same.

To ensure a successful calving, cows should be calving down at a body condition score (BCS) of 3-3.25. Anything below this target should be closely monitored at calving.

Cows at or above target BCS should be fed 90% of their daily energy requirement for two to three weeks before calving, and cows that are below the target BCS should be fed 100% of their daily energy requirement.

The transition period can be a stressful time for cows, so a prevention approach to reduce the occurrence of production-related diseases is wise, rather than dealing with issues once they have transpired.

In general, younger cows and heifers are not at risk when it comes to metabolic issues, but older cows and late-calving cows are at risk and as calving goes on, the risk increases.

Older cows tend to go in-calf somewhat later than younger cows and are at a high risk of getting milk fever as they can put on too much condition when they are dry for a long period.

However, in an autumn calving system, these cows get milked on and are only dry for the desired amount of time.

In a couple of weeks time, the main focus will be getting cows calved and because of the demanding nature of this period, feeding dry cow minerals can be forgotten or overlooked.

Cows with milk fever are eight times more likely to develop mastitis early in lactation, and negative energy balance in late-pregnancy is more likely to develop a displaced abomasum (LDA) in lactation.

Dry cows will need 0.4% of dry matter (DM) magnesium in the diet from at least four weeks pre-calving, while the lactating cow will require 0.3% of DM magnesium for approximately four months post-calving.

The risk of milk fever is reduced if dietary calcium levels can be maintained below 0.5% of DM before calving.

Avoid pre-calving feeds high in phosphorus like palm kernel as high phosphorus intake interferes with the cow's ability to maintain adequate calcium levels, so, only supplement with phosphorus if cows have a diet consisting of low-phosphorus feeds like fodder beet.

At least 12,000 units/100g of vitamin D should be included in the cows' diet while including trace minerals such as copper, zinc, selenium, manganese, iodine, and cobalt with protected sources included where required.

High potassium (K) silage can often be the cause of milk fever, as it impairs magnesium absorption. Magnesium stimulates the mobilisation of calcium from bones, so the farmer should target a low K silage of less than 2.2% from four weeks pre-calving.

To dust these minerals onto silage, it is advised to do so at a rate of 60g/cow twice a day to make sure the cow is getting topped up throughout the day after each milking.