Why is this drying off so important?

There are two key points in a cow’s lactation cycle where every dairy farmer has the opportunity to make a significant difference to the milk quality and mastitis control for that cow - drying off and calving.

Whilst for most cows these events only occur once a year, for the dairy farmer it varies from only once or twice a year in seasonal and split calving herds, through to a regular weekly or monthly event in year-round calving herds.

No matter how often they occur within each herd, getting these two events right results in the greatest chance of both curing existing infections and also preventing new infections.

In this particular year, the drought has changed the circumstances on nearly every farm, and mastitis control procedures may have been compromised by necessary financial and management decisions.

For many, this will have increased the risk of infections and where this has occurred, drying-off is the opportunity to make up lost ground.

The changed circumstances make it very important for farmers to ask for and receive appropriate advice to match the current conditions and financial constraints – and where herds do not have herd test results and cell counts to work with, these decisions will be more difficult!

Because treatment at drying off gives us the best chance of curing existing mastitis infections – it is much more effective than treatment during lactation – it means that this year those choices will be very important.

Farmers should speak to their regular veterinarian about what are the appropriate options for their herd – some discussion might be necessary to achieve the best and most cost effective result for the farm. And the more information available to aid that decision the better – Bulk Milk Cell Count records, clinical case records, herd test results, etc

Just applying the same procedure as the last time will not necessarily be right for this season – recognising the differences is the key to getting the best dry-off possible.

But getting it right will have the herd up and ready to go when the drought breaks.

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