Nutritional Deficiency
Cows & Buffaloes
Vitamin A Deficiency — Night Blindness on a Straw Diet
Updated 19 Oct 2026 • By Falah Nutrition Desk, Animal Nutrition Advisor
By the end of a long winter on straw and old hay, an animal can run completely out of vitamin A. Green fodder is its only natural source, and the body's store lasts a few months at most. The first sign is often a cow bumping into things at dusk — night blindness — followed by watery eyes, a staring coat, and calves born weak or blind.
Common Signs
- Animal hesitant, bumping into objects in dim light; fine in daylight at first
- Watery eyes, later cloudy eyes in bad cases
- Rough, dry coat and scaly skin
- Repeat breeding, abortion, retained placenta
- Calves born weak, blind or with swollen joints
- More respiratory and diarrhoea infections than usual
- All of it in late winter and early spring after months without green
Possible Causes
- Straw, old hay and grain contain almost no vitamin A
- Green fodder absent for 3-4 months in winter
- Hay sun-bleached and stored a year loses what it had
- High-yielding and pregnant animals using reserves faster
- Calves of deficient mothers born with no reserve at all
What the Farmer Should Check
- How many months since the animals last had real green fodder?
- Does she move confidently at dusk, or stumble and stop?
- Any calves this season born weak, blind or dead?
- Is a complete compound feed being fed, or only straw and bran?
- Is the hay bright green inside the bale, or brown and bleached?
Feed Guidance
The answer in the no-green months is a compound feed with vitamins built in: GOKA Green exists for exactly this gap, and GOKA Star or GOKA Smile carry a vitamin premix for milking animals. Feed it at the calculated quantity for the whole winter, not only when signs appear. Any green helps — turnip tops, mustard greens, a little willow leaf — and well-made, green-coloured hay keeps far more vitamin A than bleached straw. Pregnant animals in late winter must not be left on straw alone; GOKA Dry Feed and GOKA Transition −21 protect the calf's reserves. An animal already night-blind needs the vet's vitamin A injection; feeding then prevents the relapse.
Relevant GOKA Products
Pregnant Cows & Buffaloes (Dry Stage)
Healthy dry period, trouble-free calving
Dairy Cows & Buffaloes
Under 15 liters/day
Best when green fodder is scarce
Dairy Cows & Buffaloes
10-15 liters/day
Maintains milk fat, prevents repeat breeding
When to Contact a Veterinary Doctor
Night blindness, cloudy eyes or weak newborn calves need a veterinary doctor: a vitamin A injection works quickly when given early, and the vet will rule out eye infections that look similar.
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