For many spring calving herds, the majority of the herd has been dried off by now. It is important that farmers who are drying off the last few in the coming days maintain high hygiene standards.
Now that the end is in sight in terms of drying off, and there may be only a few cows coming through the parlour, farmers can tend to let their hygiene standards slip.
Getting the drying off process right is crucial in ensuring that the cows calving down in spring start producing high quality milk without any somatic cell count (SCC) issues or mastitis.
Drying off
Over the coming days in the lead up to Christmas, most spring calving herds will have the last of their cows dried off, which will see the end of another season.
When drying off the last few batches off cows, farmers should follow the exact same procedure that they have been using on all the previous cows.
If hygiene slips up now, the likelihood is that infection will occur at drying off, which will lead to cows having high cell count and mastitis, which can then lead to a cow losing a quarter.
It is important that farmers stick to the process that they have put in place for teat preparation, and ensure that teats are cleaned and sterilised using cotton wool soaked in surgical spirits or the alcohol wipes that come with the tubes.
A small number of cows should be done at once, as most of the problems occur where too many cows are done at once and there is not enough attention to detail in sterilizing the teat and the parlour is harder to keep clean as cows are standing and unsettled.
Ideally, cows should go out to a clean dry paddock after drying but the weather is likely to be poor which will leave no choice but to put them into the cubicles.
Farmers need to make sure that cubicles and mats are in good condition and that there are enough cubicles for the number of cows.
The dry period
The dry cow house should be limed once/day at least and maybe even twice/day when cows are dried off initially as keeping cubicles clean and bacteria at a minimum has to be a priority.
Passageways should be well maintained and automatic scrapers should be timed for every three to four hours or six times/day.
After the cows are dried off, the teat may remain open for several days before they full seal, which means the risk of new infection is high for these few days.
The biggest risk period is the first two weeks after drying off and the two weeks before calving as the cows are particularly susceptible to infections, making regular monitoring and good hygiene practices essential for preventing mastitis.
Cows need to be monitored closely during these times, because if mastitis is not identified promptly, the cow can become very sick, very quickly which can hinder performance and welfare of the animal.
