Vitamin A deficiency is one challenge when feeding drought-affected forages. “Green forage is the primary source of beta-carotene which is the precursor for Vitamin A,” said Janna Block, livestock specialist, NDSU Extension. “We obviously did not have a lot of green forage this past summer. In a normal year when we do have green forage, there’s three to five times as much Vitamin A as a cow would need to meet her daily requirements. In that situation, cows will store Vitamin A in their liver, but in a drought situation, they’re deficient.” Symptoms vary. S”ome of the challenges that we see in Vitamin A deficiency is higher levels of scours in calves, some cows won’t clean properly and have retained placenta. We’ve also observed reproductive issues if this gets to be a long-term challenge, but some things are a little less obvious. You might have some low growth rates and conception rates might be a little lower.”
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