Dairy

TraceCheck

Tracecheck - Trace Element Monitoring Programme

Tracecheck is our trace element and metabolic status monitoring programme. It is made up of three key monitoring points from throughout the annual calendar.

• Dry off – This can either be done on livers from cull cows (five) collected from the abattoir or via liver biopsies and blood samples from retained cows. In particular it is important to monitor liver copper levels at this time of year to ensure cows are not accumulating toxic levels of this trace mineral. Levels measured will guide on requirements for supplementation over the dry period.

• Peri-calving – Ideally we look to take bloods from 10 cows on their fourth day post calving, to identify the success of the transition management and trace mineral status going into the calving period. This should be done as soon as a farm has calved 10 or more mature cows a day. Blood parameters indicating excessive fat mobilisation at around calving can usually be rectified through changes in springer/colostrum management.

• Pre-mating – Ideally this should be taken about 3-4 weeks before the planned start of mating to ensure that cows are going into mating in an optimal status. 10 blood samples are required at this time.

• Other – herds which have high liver copper levels in the proceeding Autumn, should be liver biopsied again after cessation of all copper supplements. The optimal times to test young stock are going in the late Autumn and again in September.

​