As we progress further into the year, the autumn calving cow is at the latter end of her lactation, which means that preparation for drying off needs to commence.
It is important to take these few weeks before drying off to identify which cows in the herd are going to need selective dry cow therapy (SDCT) and which cows will need antibiotics.
Identifying cows early will help with a swift and effective drying-off while limiting infection and the use of antibiotics in your herd.
Heifers and thin cows need to be dry for 12 weeks to give them a break to allow them to build up a bit of body condition and replenish the mammary tissue in the udder.
Drying off
With SDCT now compulsory, dairy farmers are no longer allowed to administer dry cow tubes to all quarters of all cows in the herd at drying-off.
Before choosing cows to go for SDCT, you should consult your vet at all stages of the transition and sign up for milk recording four to six times per year to make the process of choosing cow a lot easier.
A milk recording will give you the data to track mastitis cases that occurred during the year and to identify which cows will need an antibiotic during the tear.
Good hygiene during drying-off is essential in order to ensure you are not introducing new infection to cows during the process, and is more applicable when you are using SDCT, when putting a sealer in healthy cows.
The following steps should be followed:
- Identify the cows to be dried off with sealer only and draft following milking;
- Wash out the parlour and get organised with gloves, methylated spirits, etc.;
- Take your time and don’t try to dry too many cows in one day;
- Target small numbers (six to eight cows);
- Thoroughly clean the teats, seal, teat spray and mark the cows that have been dried-off;
- Stand the cows in a clean yard for a period to allow teats to close;
- Move to a paddock or clean dry cubicles.
This process may sound like a bit of work, but, the same process should still apply for drying-off cows with antibiotics.
It is important to realise that you are not going to get everything dried off in the one milking as it may take up five minutes per cow when ensuring it is done properly and completely hygienic.
Before this process happens, you need to make sure you are 100% certain that the cow’s being chose for SDCT are suited to minimise poor results and so a milk recording close to drying-off might be wise decision.