Calcium Bundle

When a dairy cow has a calf, her body's need for calcium far exceeds her ability to extract calcium from her diet, so she literally has to metabolize her own bones for a short period of time to get through the metabolic transition from being "dry" to lactating.

The challenge is that dairy cows, particularly from industrialized genetics, have such great calcium needs that they cannot metabolically keep up during that transition except with supplemental calcium. (And even "grass-fed" cows these days originate with industrialized genetics.)

For decades, farmers relied on caustic pastes that the cow hates and always carry the risk of aspiration into the lungs -- causing potentially deadly pneumonia. And regular boluses simply do not deliver enough calcium to get cows through this critical time.

For more than a decade, large delayed-release boluses have dramatically improved calcium delivery and reduced milk fever. We have not had a single flat-out milk fever on our farm since using calcium boluses, except in one case of an older cow who calved over night. 

These unique bolus formulations of calcium provide calcium chloride for quick blood serum calcium levels and calcium sulphate for sustained blood serum calcium levels over time. The bolus formulation, when delivered properly, is swallowed and leaves nothing to be spit out. 

Yet, the delivery mechanism is extremely important. Many small farmers and homesteaders have been relegated to using homemade or cheap plastic bolus guns to deliver these giant pills, and let's just say that it has been difficult for the cows — and people — to swallow. 

Our mission is to make professional dairy knowledge, training and tools available to homesteaders and small farmers, and so we sourced a metal delivery gun — like the one we use on our farm, and just like large dairies have access to — and made it available to small farms and homesteads.

You can buy the gun with or without a pack (or two) of boluses. We do not sell the boluses singularly. And we do not sell the boluses without the gun because we can't compete on price with the larger big-box and online retailers. Nonetheless, it is important to us to make this professional tool available to you so that you and your cows can have good outcomes — and save costly vet bills and potentially a dead animal.

Yes! These bolus guns do fit the Bovikalc brand calcium boluses. The pill gun and boluses are exactly comparable to Bovikalc and made by a company that is smaller and more friendly to working with other small companies. We were able to substantially lower the price because of this. 

Milk fever is way easier to prevent than treat. We think this is the best method to provide a vitally needed source of calcium in freshening cows. 

UNLESS UNDER VETERINARY ADVISEMENT DO NOT GIVE A CALCIUM BOLUS PRIOR TO CALVING BECAUSE YOU CAN CAUSE MILK FEVER!!!!

We are proud to help homesteads and small farms have worry-free and good outcomes with their cows, whether you have just one or a hundred. A single dairy cow necessitates having a calcium-delivery plan at freshening.

Bolus guns and calcium boluses ship once a week. We are a small shop. You will get your bolus gun approximately 2-3 weeks after order. Import duties, tariffs, taxes, and customs fees are the customer's responsibility and are not included in out prices. These may be collected upon delivery.