Dairy
With drying off for autumn calving herds set to take place in the next couple of weeks, the body condition score (BCS) of your herd will...
A big issue on many farms is heifers calving down and having heifer mastitis or in some scenarios having a blind quarter which can be...
As we are now into the start of December, many cows in the country are dried off at this point and mastitis risk needs to be kept at bay...
Dairy Technical
Depending on the planned start of calving or due dates of cows, dry cow minerals may already need to be the diet of your cows.
Grouping cows when housed this winter, will allow for better management and ensure that they are in the correct BCS for calving.
Heading into the final couple of months of the lactation for 2023 spring-calving herds, now is a good time to access BCS.
Milk recording has become increasingly more important on Irish dairy farms, for a number of reasons.
Selective dry cow therapy (SDCT) is being used on many farms for the first time this year, with new regulations requiring it be used on farms.
One of the main reasons why cows are dried-off early is due to body condition scores (BCS) being too low.
The drying off of cows has begun on many farms, with almost all herds due to begin the process in the coming days/weeks.
Dairy cows are typically offered a dry period of 60 days prior to calving. A dry period is important for several reasons...
The drying off of spring-calving cows has begun on many farms, as spring-calving dairy farms wind down ahead of the winter dry period.
Cows have entered the final third of their lactation and although many cows will continue to milk into early December, BCS should not be forgotten.
With cows fully housed around the country and the majority of those dried off, one of the main focuses over the dry period will be ensuring good hygiene.
At this stage, a proportion of cows in spring-calving dairy herds have been dried off or at least they should have been anyway.
As farmers begin drying-off cows, there are a few things that should be taken into consideration to prevent any new infections this spring.
Many spring-calving dairy farmers have - or should have - begun to dry-off cows; however, usually some farmers are temped to milk cows on.
50% of all clinical mastitis cases, in the first 100 days of lactation, can be linked back to the drying-off procedure.
Drying off is a key time for mastitis control on dairy farms, as it can influence the mastitis level in the herd for the next 6-12 months.
Paddocks that are at the end of the current grazing rotation can be kept for dry cows.
To ignore, or significantly shorten, the dry period could have a detrimental effect on the productivity of the herd in 2016, according to AHI.
