We are now coming towards the end of the calving season, which means the milking routine can become more consistent as there will be less activity in the parlour with fewer fresh calvers coming through.
The advice is to keep a fresh calving group going for another few weeks – this is an ideal way of giving the cows more time to recover and receive special treatment if needs be.
Having a quality milking routine is critically important for the early stages of a cow’s lactation, as infectious pressures are very high once cows start calving down.
With less cows calving down, the parlour should become a lot quieter now that fewer cows will have to be stripped, California mastitis-tested (CMT) or treated.
However, just because things are easing off does not mean that good milking practices should be relaxed. as cows are reaching their peak milk production which means that a cow having a quarter with mastitis could be very costly.
A few late calvers are still yet to calve, and they will need the same level of attention as every cow that has calved prior to them.
Cows that first calve down and are secreting a small bit of colostrum even before entering the parlour will have open teat canals.
This makes the udder more susceptible to bacteria, which can lead to inflated somatic cell count (SCC) and mastitis.
Similarly, the teat canal is open when cows are being stripped and having CMTs carried out, which means that care and hygiene need to be at the forefront at this stage.
SCC
A cow having high SCC at this stage of the lactation can be very costly on the farmer, as it will affect their milk price and may require treatment.
The SCC levels of your herd will have to be maintained before the first milk recording is completed on the farm.
Farmers will have to go off their bulk tank SCC to have an understanding of what the cell count status of the herd is before they get individual data from a milk recording.
Getting a milk recording done as soon as possible is crucial, as it will give the farmer an idea of how their drying off went and which cows are causing problems in the herd.
These problem cows should be marked for culling or for a beef straw and monitored throughout the lactation.
A milk recording will also greatly benefit farmers in making decisions around breeding, as the best performing cows in the herd can be marked for dairy artificial insemination (AI).
The periods when there is the greatest risk of infection developing are: at drying off; two to three weeks post-dry off; two to three weeks pre-calving; and the first month post-calving.
As mentioned earlier, a freshly calved group should be formed to allow fresh cows to be milked together. This will aid the farmer, as it will allow them to concentrate on this group, spending more time with them and making sure everything is right.
Milking routine
A good milking routine is the most effective way of keeping SCC at a minimum for the calving season and through to the breeding season.
Simple measures such as wearing nitrile gloves and keeping them clean and disinfected throughout milking can make a difference in the bulk tank SCC.
The inspection of foremilk and the treatment of mastitis cows are urgent matters, but freshly calved cows should also continuously be inspected for cruds in their milk before they enter the main herd.
Based on whether a cow has clinical or subclinical mastitis, they should be separated from the herd, or their cluster must be thoroughly disinfected post-milking.
A CMT should be carried out on freshly calved cows at the last milking before joining the main herd to identify any mastitis infections and reduce the risk of it spreading.
For cows that have been monitored since calving and are not improving, farmers should send a sample from the infected quarter(s) to a laboratory to identify the pathogen that is causing the elevated SCC.
A sensitivity test will identify the offending pathogen as well as the correct antibiotic to use as a treatment.
If pre-spraying is carried out on the farm, it is essential that the contact time is 30 seconds. The spray then needs to dried off with a paper towel before cluster attachment.
Clusters need to be put onto clean, dry teats. Ensure that automatic cluster removers (ACRs) are calibrated to avoid over-milking resulting in teat end damage.
If no ACRs are in place, remove the cluster when a single stream of milk is visible.
Once the cow is milked, farmers should be using the correct post-milking teat disinfectant of roughly 15ml/cow/milking, ensuring full teat coverage.
