At drying-off you need to choose one of three strategies before proceeding with Dry Cow Treatment:

• to treat the whole herd (Blanket)

• to select some cows in the herd for treatment (Selective), or

• to treat none of the cows.

Which strategy makes the most economic sense? And what exactly does Dry Cow Treatment do?

Dry Cow Treatment is an antibiotic formulation that helps cure existing mastitis infections over the dry period and helps protect udders from new infections.

Economic modelling of the different Dry Cow Treatment strategies has shown that all Australian herds can reduce the costs of mastitis by the strategic use of Dry Cow Treatment at drying-off.

A good start in helping you decide the best strategy for your herd is to consult The Countdown Downunder Farm Guidelines for Mastitis Control. Fact Sheet C, on page 93, takes you through a sequence of questions to answer, based on information from your herd.

Basically, Blanket Dry Cow Treatment is recommended when:

Selective Dry Cow Treatment is recommended when you are able to identify which individual cows in the herd had subclinical or clinical mastitis during the lactation – which is only possible in herds milk records are kept.

In a selective strategy, cows that had an Individual Cow Cell Count above 250,000 cells/mL at any herd test and cows that had a clinical case in the current lactation are treated at drying-off. All quarters of the selected cows are treated to help cure infections embedded deep in the udder. NOTE: first lactation cows in this group have the best cure rates!

To maximise value from your dry cow investment, discuss your dry cow strategy and the most appropriate product with your vet.

The more information you can provide, the more effective action you can take toward mastitis control. Knowing the type of bacteria causing mastitis in the herd (from milk cultures taken during the lactation) and the response of mastitis cases to treatment (from clinical case records and Individual Cow Cell Counts) can make a big difference to the rate of progress.

Choosing the appropriate dry cow strategy and managing the various tasks at drying-off are the keys to healthy milk yields and healthy udders in the next lactation.

Image and caption
Fact Sheet C flow chart (page 93 of the Farm Guidelines) “Guide to the choice of Selective or Blanket Dry Cow Treatment from the Countdown Downunder Farm Guidelines for Mastitis Control”

Countdown Downunder Farm Guideline or Technote
Farm Guideline 14.4, 14.5, 14.6, Fact Sheet C

Keywords
Dry Cow Treatment, strategy, blanket treatment, selective

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