Abstract
Prevention of periparturient hypocalcaemia has been an active area of research and development within the dairy sector for over 60 years. Absolute dietary restriction of calcium to the pre-partum animal is the traditional method but can be challenging in typical UK dairy cow diets. Supplementation of calcium binding compounds will effectively lower the dietary calcium by decreasing absorption across the gut wall, allowing calcium restriction on a ‘normal’ diet. Manipulation of the dietary acid/base balance of the pre-partum animal is another effective tool for prevention of hypocalcaemia. Reduction of dietary cations (sodium and potassium) relative to the anions (chloride and sulphur) induces a mild to moderate metabolic acidosis which stimulates the parathyroid hormone homeostatic mechanisms, up-regulating bone resorption and gut absorption while reducing renal excretion of calcium. The physiology of normal calcium regulation and how these hypocalcaemia prevention strategies exploit this understanding will be discussed in this article along with other important considerations.
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