The next major event to occur on most dairy farms after housing will be the drying-off of cows for the winter months.
Drying-off is one of the most significant events on dairy farms and signals the beginning of the next lactation.
Although still a few weeks away on many farms, preparation for drying-off cows should be getting underway.
Drying-off
Ahead of drying-off taking place, you should complete a milk recording within a month to 45 days of drying off to identify cows with a high somatic cell count (SCC) and those suitable for sealer only.
It is also important that a recording is completed early in 2024 to determine the success of the dry period.
From the final milk recording of the year, cows with cell count issues or cows that have had chronic issues should have samples taken to determine the bacteria causing the issue.
This is to get a profile of the type of bacteria that are in the herd, and which antibiotics they are susceptible to in order to treat these bacteria and achieve the best results.
The results of these samples should be discussed with your vet to develop treatment plans for these cows.
The advice from Animal Health Ireland (AHI) is that you should avoid skipping milkings in the days leading up to drying off – meaning cows should be dried off abruptly.
Planning
Ahead of drying-off many farms will have completed a scanning or will have records of served dates for their cows.
Once you have the expected calving dates, you should ensure an adequate dry period is achieved.
This should be a minimum of six to eight weeks, but cows should be body condition scored (BCS) to identify thin cows and or over conditioned cows.
The length of the dry period should be changed based on this, with thin cows requiring a longer dry period.
Once this has been determined you can then start identifying dates when cows need to be dried-off.
Management
Ahead of drying-off, there are a number of jobs that should be completed, such as clipping excessive hair on cows tails and rear udders to ensure better hygiene.
You also need to be managing cows heading into drying-off; where cows are yielding greater than 12L/day in the week before planned drying off, you should reduce feed intake.
Ensure that you continue to maintain hygiene standards in the lead-up to drying-off to ensure that cell counts are kept under control.
When cows are in the shed and during the milking routine, exposure to potential mastitis-causing bacteria should be limited as much as possible.