A total of 60 dairy cows met the requirements of the study (50 disease cases and 10 as the control group), located on 10 farms in the central Lublin region. The cows were aged 3 to 8 years, with good or very good milk production and about a week after parturition. They were first divided into two groups based on their clinical symptoms of milk fever. During the experiment, two subgroups were distinguished from the groups, based on the condition of the animals during the observation period. At 24, 48 and 72 hour,s blood was taken from the animals after no clinical symptoms were detected and at least 36 hours after the last administration of medicines. In the first days of the analysis, low levels of minerals (calcium – Ca and inorganic phosphorus – Pi) and low concentrations of glucose and cholesterol with simultaneously higher amounts of free fatty acids (FFA) were observed in the serum. On the second day of the analysis, these levels had dropped and on the third day some of the cows were observed to have small problems with appetite or difficulty getting up; therefore, after taking material for evaluation and analysis, treatment was begun or prophylaxis increased. Based on the results, the authors can conclude that the major health threat to cows recovering from milk fever appears 2 to 3 day after the subsidence of any signs of acute hypocalcaemia, and 3 days after the last application of medicines. Cows which had been clinically healthy in this period showed significant differences in biochemistry results versus the control groups and needed to receive prophylactic preparations to resolve the mineral and energy insufficiencies. Our observations suggest the necessity for check-up blood tests in cows for 3 days after an episode of milk fever, as well as mineral and energy prophylactic supplementation during that time.

19.2.2014