Although veterinarians may not be administering individual treatment to clinical, recumbent milk fever cases, there are many opportunities for us to be involved with preventing, monitoring, and developing protocols for treatment of hypocalcemia. In this episode, AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich is joined by Dr. Jess McArt, a clinician and researcher from Cornell University. Dr. McArt discusses practical tips for diagnosing and treating cases of clinical hypocalcemia, as well as providing suggestions for veterinary involvement in prevention and monitoring of this disease. We also discuss the effects of subclinical hypocalcemia, which can be diagnosed in 30-50% of cows on some dairy farms, even with a clinical incidence rate of well under 5%. Dr. McArt also discusses some of the research on hypocalcemia, including a recent project that demonstrated blood samples taken pre-treatment can sit in cold storage for an extended period without adversely affecting accuracy of results for blood calcium levels. Dr. McArt also discusses future research, including the effects of transient, persistent, or delayed subclinical hypocalcemia in early lactation cows. AABP members can listen to Dr. McArt’s research summary presentations on calcium by going to the BCI CE portal and searching under the Research Summaries or the Annual Conference Proceedings and searching for McArt. 

Relevant publications: 

McArt JAA, Neves RC. Association of transient, persistent, or delayed subclinical hypocalcemia with early lactation disease, removal, and milk yield in Holstein cows. J Dairy Sci. 2020 Jan;103(1):690-701. doi: 10.3168/jds.2019-17191. Epub 2019 Nov 6. PMID: 31704009 

Bach KD, Neves RC, Stokol T, McArt JAA. Technical note: Effect of storage time and temperature on total calcium concentrations in bovine blood. J Dairy Sci. 2020 Jan;103(1):922-928. doi: 10.3168/jds.2019-17394. Epub 2019 Nov 14. PMID: 31733856. 

Neves RC, Stokol T, Bach KD, McArt JAA. Method comparison and validation of a prototype device for measurement of ionized calcium concentrations cow-side against a point-of-care instrument and a benchtop blood-gas analyzer reference method. J Dairy Sci. 2018 Feb;101(2):1334-1343. doi: 10.3168/jds.2017-13779. Epub 2017 Dec 14. PMID: 29248221.

 Leno BM, Neves RC, Louge IM, Curler MD, Thomas MJ, Overton TR, McArt JAA. Differential effects of a single dose of oral calcium based on postpartum plasma calcium concentration in Holstein cows. J Dairy Sci. 2018 Apr;101(4):3285-3302. doi: 10.3168/jds.2017-13164. Epub 2018 Feb 14. PMID: 29454686.

 Neves RC, Leno BM, Stokol T, Overton TR, McArt JAA. Risk factors associated with postpartum subclinical hypocalcemia in dairy cows. J Dairy Sci. 2017 May;100(5):3796-3804. doi: 10.3168/jds.2016-11970. Epub 2017 Mar 16. PMID: 28318576.