We are now entering the final few weeks of the grazing season, and hygiene must be front and centre as many cows are in by night and will be in full-time in the coming weeks.
Cow-to-cow contact increases as cows are housed, along with the increase in faecal cross-contamination between cows and their environment.
Getting your houses, cubicles and passageways prepared is the first step in addressing hygiene. Make sure everything is clean, disinfected and well-ventilated with sufficient space provided for the animals.
The risk of mastitis increases when cows are housed due to a combination of faeces and moisture in a warm environment.
A mixture of warm, moist bedding and dung accumulating at the end of a cubicle mat increases the build-up of E.coli bacteria by over a million fold.
Bacteria and disease linger and live longer in warm, mild conditions, which is why many farmers are sceptical at housing cattle in the last couple of weeks, giving how mild it has been.
Hygiene
The increase in E.coli bacteria provides a serious challenge to the udder, as the bacteria may build up at the teat end and enter the teat canal, causing either clinical or subclinical environmental mastitis.
Good hygiene during housing comes through hygiene scoring the cows and constantly examining and implementing good management practices at housing.
For spring calving cows, all cows are still milking, with the first few to be dried off shortly, and so hygiene is crucial, as you can’t afford to allow the somatic cell count (SCC) slip this late on in the lactation, as it will affect your drying-off procedure and your costs.
For the autumn calving herds, with many cows in at night in recent weeks, making sure the dry cows’ hygiene is crucial with an assessment of the cow’s flank, udder and legs crucial in preventing any bacterial infection from occurring.
Make sure that all passageway are cleaned at least six time per day and any minor walkways should be cleaned at least twice-a-day to reduce any build-up of dirt.
Make sure that all cubicles and mats are dry and treated with products that raise the pH, such as ground hydrated lime as it will help stop any bacterial growth.
The cows need plenty of cubicle space, ideally, 1.1 cubicle spaces per cow is needed as otherwise dominant cows take over and submissive cows will stand for longer periods or lie on slats, according to Animal Health Ireland (AHI).
Feeding space is also crucial as cows will need at least 0.6m/cow and water troughs should be easily accessed and not half way across the shed – three troughs per 50 cows is optimal and they should checked religiously for cleanliness.
For younger stock or cows calving down, the management and use of bedding material is crucial as poorly stored damp straw will lead to increased environmental mastitis.
