As I mentioned in one of my previous articles, the transition period is one of, if not the, most challenging period for dairy cows during their production cycle. During this time, cows experience four main physiological challenges: a drop in dry matter intake, an increase in nutrient demands, immunosuppression, and systemic stress and inflammation (especially around calving). Therefore, the best approach to manage this group of animals is by addressing these challenges. If we think about the drop in intake and the increase in nutrient needs, the main negative effects are animals getting into a negative energy balance (because they are using more nutrients than what they are consuming) and developing metabolic diseases such as ketosis and fatty liver.