Many herds will be in the latter end of the calving season with only a few to calve, and high cell count cows need to be identified as peak milk production arrives.
Cows are reaching their peak lactation and farmers are keen to drive on milk production by maximising the cow’s dry matter intake (DMI), but hygiene and problem cows should not be overlooked and should be dealt with.
The importance of a milk recording can not understated, with ideally the first recording taking place within 60 days after the start of calving to get an understanding on how dry-off and the dry period went.
This milk recording will also help farmers to identify cows that are not suitable for breeding their replacements off, not suitable for sexed semen, or suitable for a beef straw, playing a big part in data-driven decisions for the breeding season.
A milk recording will also identify problem cows in the herd, cows that have a high somatic cell count (SCC), and will allow for timely intervention and management.
It is one thing identifying these cows in the herd, but it is another to actually act on their infection, as a decision will have to be made whether you should continue treating problem cows or whether they should be culled.
High cell count cows
Cows that are constantly causing problems or chronically infected cows should be culled from the herd to stop them from spreading infection across the whole herd.
With the factory prices experienced for P-grade cows or cows straight out of the parlour, it might be the best option to cut your losses with these cows.
With these strong prices in factories, many farmers are opting to cull these poor performing, highly infectious, problem cows and replace them with young heifers or cows that are freshly calved for small money extra.
If there was ever a time to trade bad cows for good cows and replace high SCC, health issues, and poor milk production with health, youth, and production, the time to do it is now as strong factory prices surge.
Not all infected cows can be culled from the herd, but the worst of them and the repeat offenders should really be culled.
Cows with high SCC you plan to remain in the herd should be inspected and the quarter identified using a Californian mastitis test (CMT), with the infected quarter treated accordingly after consulting your vet.
A culture and sensitivity test is also a good place to start as, with these infected quarters, it is important to see what bacteria is causing the issues on the farm.
Ideally these high cell count cows should be milked last to stop the spread of infection from cluster to cluster, however, that is not always possible which means clusters will have to disinfected with peracetic solution after milking the infected cow.
The next five cows to use that cluster could pick up the infection if the acid is not used to disinfect the cluster. This can be done through cluster dipping, making sure it is the right concentration and only used for six to seven dips.
Many farmers in recent years have added in cluster flush into their milking machine which rinses through peracetic acid after every cow milked.
The point is, get a milk recording done as soon as possible so you know what you are dealing with in the herd and replace these problem cows in the herd if you can at all, as the potential disruption these infected cows can have on your herd is often underestimated.
