Preserving Your Assets
It seems that a
number of our regions must again endure the effects of drought. The memories of
recent drought events are still fresh in our minds, but perhaps those recent
memories can be used to assist in minimising the effect of this drought.
A key lesson
from previous drought experiences has been that farm managers must have a plan.
Whilst survival in the short term is going to be a critical outcome of the plan,
a major part of many plans will also be to preserve and protect assets, so that
the farm can pick up and go again when the drought breaks.
Whilst
preserving cows is an obvious asset protection strategy, milk quality is another
asset worth preserving – maintaining an effective mastitis control program under
these conditions will have the herd up and ready to go when the rain arrives.
One of the
lessons from previous drought experiences is that some management decisions can
have different consequences on different farms.
 As
an example, the 2002/2003 drought saw a significant drop in the use of dry cow
therapy at drying off. However, at the subsequent calving on some farms, there
was a large increase in the number of clinical cases of mastitis at calving - at
a cost of $170 per clinical case of mastitis, the savings at drying-off were
quickly wiped out!
It is likely
that farms with higher cell counts or where Strep uberis is a problem at calving
will pay a price for reducing or eliminating dry cow therapy. However, for low
cell count farms that switch to selective dry cow therapy (only treating cows
that have had a clinical case of mastitis or a high cell count during the
lactation), the risk is likely to be much lower.
As in
2003/2003, culling is being used to reduce numbers – can we minimise the asset
loss of culling this time around by ensuring that we cull the most appropriate
cows?
Herd recording
is a valuable tool for assessing the value, performance and cell count of cows,
yet many herds dropped out of herd recording during 2002/2003.
Maybe herd
recording could be maintained with a different strategy – perhaps herd test
every second month instead of monthly, or use “spot” tests, or maybe only test a
group of targeted cows within the herd. There could be several options that
assist the most appropriate culling – thus preserving the best cows as an asset.
Stay in touch
with your milk quality advisers (e.g. your vet, factory field officer, milking
machine tech, herd improvement centre, etc), and before making key decisions
that may have substantial impact, ask their advice.
As an example,
cow parking is happening again this year, as in 2002. Whilst most cow parking
was successful for both parties in 2002, there were certainly occasions where
the spread of mastitis infections occurred - either from the parked herd into
the host herd or vice versa.
To help prevent
or minimise these occurrences, we have developed a checklist for both the host
and donor farms to consider before the cows return, including hints on the best
way to manage these cows and minimise both the risk of mastitis and the spread
of infection. Look for the checklist on the website.
In summary, no
single strategy for milk quality applies to all herds through this drought.
Issues will need to be considered, and advice sought on some of those issues.
At Countdown,
we wish you good luck with your drought planning – we will do our best to keep
you and your advisers up to date with the latest information, hints and advice,
and we will post a range of tools and materials on our website as the season
progresses.
Click here for Countdown Downunder's
Cowparking & Mastitis Control
Checklist (PDF)
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For
more information on Countdown Downunder