Your cows need a good holiday to “stop, seal and heal”

I had a good break over Christmas – relaxing, forgetting about the stresses and strains of work, and refuelling for the challenges of 2001.

Dairy cows need a break too. Over a milking season they’ve produced thousands of litres of milk. Drying off gives their bodies the chance to recover and throw off any lingering mastitis infections.

  A well-planned start to their holiday will give your cows the best opportunity to stop milking, to seal the teats, and heal their milk producing tissues in the udder.

So the strategies you use in late lactation and to dry off cows are the keys to udder health in the next lactation.

Stop, seal, heal

At drying-off the udder needs:

• Clear messages to stop making milk

• A quick, clean seal to each teat canal

• Time to heal: removing and repairing milk producing tissue

The udder needs at least six to eight weeks to rebuild itself – starting from the day the teat actually seals and milking stops.

Stop

When we stop milking, the udder gets strong signals to stop making milk. Increased pressure and accumulation of certain milk constituents provide feedback to the milk producing areas of the udder to cease activity. Countdown recommends that the best approach is to just stop milking cows, provided they are producing 12 litres per day or less.

Some cows in the herd may still producing well over 12 litres. Start winding these cows down a couple of weeks before the planned dry off date – change your routines, reduce or change the feed.

Seal

A quick, clean seal in the teat end relies on the natural formation of a plug of keratin in the teat canal. This acts as a barrier to infection.

Cows are very susceptible to bugs entering the udder in the drying-off period. These infections can be invisible until calving. Research in New Zealand has shown that nearly all infections at this time of year occur in teats that didn’t seal properly during drying off.

So to enhance clean keratin plug formation in teat ends, don’t reduce milking by skipping days, just stop milking. And be gentle with the teat when administering Dry Cow Treatment. Inserting the nozzle of each tube only part of the way into the canal can reduce damage to its delicate lining. This is pretty hard to do in many cows that are not used to having their teats handled.

Dry Cow Treatment also protects cows from new infections soon after drying-off and during the dry period. This is partly by enhancing keratin plug formation through removal of bacteria on the canal surface.

Heal

During the dry period the udder undergoes a major episode of ‘re-sculpturing’. All milk producing tissue ‘disappears’, leaving just the duct tissue. The milk producing tissue will then regenerated for next lactation. 6-8 weeks is required for this re-sculpturing to occur.

With this natural removal of damaged or infected tissue about 20-30% of cows with mastitis “self cure”. Use of Dry Cow Treatment increases the cure rate to 70-80%.

Getting Dry Cow right

Dry Cow Treatment is clearly a valuable major tool for our industry. Most antibiotic use on dairy farms is for Dry Cow Treatment. Planning your strategy for Dry Cow use is an important step – both to get the most benefit, and to avoid the risk of problems such as antibiotic residues in the vat. Ask your vet to help you ensure best practice for your Dry Cow strategy and technique.

The Dry Period is a unique opportunity to set your cell count for next season at well below premium, using the principle of stop, seal and heal.

Farm Guidelines – advice for drying off

Do you want to know:

• How to get high producing cows down to 12 litres at drying off?

• How to decide if Blanket or Selective Dry Cow is the right option for your herd?

• How to train staff for clean delivery of Dry Cow Treatments?

• How to avoid the risk of antibiotic residues next lactation?

These issues are all covered in the Farm Guidelines. The Guidelines are available from vets, dairy companies and other service providers throughout Australia, RRP $20.

From the Guidelines: Tips for better Dry Cow Treatment

17.4 Use Dry Cow Treatment only at the cow’s last milking for the current lactation.

Dry Cow Treatment is registered only for use immediately after a cow’s last milking for a lactation. Off-label use is strongly discouraged because drug residue risks increase and cure rates are likely to be reduced.

17.5 Administer the treatments as recommended ensuring the teat ends are sanitised properly.

17.6 Treat all quarters of cows to receive Dry Cow Treatment (except quarters that have been dried off for some time in cows milked as ‘three teaters’).

If a quarter is dry, absorption of the Dry Cow Treatment in the quarter will be changed. Off-label use is strongly discouraged because drug residue risks increase and cure rates are likely to be reduced. Injectable antibiotics may be used in these cases – consult with your veterinarian.

17.7 Dip teats with freshly made up teat disinfectant after treatment.

Even if you usually spray, dipping is preferable after Dry Cow Treatment to ensure complete coverage of the teat.

The Countdown team: Jakob Malmo

Jakob Malmo is one of the dairy industry’s most energetic contributors. He’s been in veterinary practice in Maffra in Gippsland for 40 years, and he’s been nearly everywhere else as a guest lecturer or expert adviser. Many dairy farmers know him and he has taught nearly every young dairy vet. The Australian community has acknowledged his activities too with an Order of Australia.

Jakob has always taken a strong interest in mastitis and milk quality control and he is a key adviser to the Countdown technical group. He brings a wide range of experience to the review and formulation of our recommendations – as a dairy farm owner, veterinarian, scientist, and herd improvement industry leader.

Images:

Pauline’s page:

1. Pauline
2. Teat end and glove – caption. The teat end is especially at risk from infection during drying off – always wear gloves (See ADF March 1999 or www.countdown.org.au for more information on gloves)

3. Jakob Malmo
4. Cartoon
5. A page from the guidelines