Dry off preparation - the essential shopping list
Off Dry To Important Therapy Is Within Days Selective It Cow Cows Of 30 Drying (sdct) To Facilitate This Plete Recording
The relief of the clear TB test made last week a lot less stressful, and the worry has subsided for at least another four months. It is a time of change on the farm, getting used to old routines again, less daylight and, of course, cubicle liming.
On the other hand, I also strangely enjoy this time of year, the winding down of the milkings, that hum of the automatic scraper and the smell of silage in the air.
With the cows now living a hybrid life between the fields and the sheds, the dry period is nearly upon us. It was a week of getting organised, ordering our sublime cubical bedding, and booking our final milk recording for the year.
The ideal cow will have all recordings in the lactation under the threshold cell count that is discussed with their vet before drying off. This last recording will indicate the current infection level just before drying off.
Animal Health Ireland is running Cell-Check drying-off farmer meetings in association with local Teagasc offices. I was kindly nominated by my own advisory office in Midleton to speak at a meeting in Killeagh recently.
Stuart Childs from Teagasc and Donal Corkery from Dairygold were also speaking on the day, which worked very well as the topic is so broad, and we all have a common goal of knowledge transfer for a successful dry period.
My main topic was the interpretation of milk recordings and the drying-off procedure itself. Stuart spoke about hygiene during the housing aspect of the dry period, and Donal focused on milk sampling techniques and led a demonstration on how to conduct a California milk test on a high cell count cow.
During my talk, I highlighted again what my main take-home from the Cell Check conference is the hygiene at drying off supersedes the importance of somatic cell count (SCC) thresholds.
Organisation was the main theme of the afternoon. I showed how to access the cell count data on ICBF and how to filter the cows to give a list of cows eligible for SDCT in the herd.
This is something that your vet will help you with and if your cell count is consistently below 200 this year, a funded Cell check “Dry cow consult” with your vet would be a great place to start to gain confidence with using the date.
If the SCC is over 200 on the farm, the Cell-Check Solutions consult would be an option to sign up for to help with lowering the cell count in the next lactation, all available on the AHI website. There are more Cell-Check Farmer information meetings going around the country at the moment though farm advisors.
People know I love shopping. However, some of my purchases are more wants than needs; this is not the case for “Dry off essential shopping list” and all budget-friendly items, too.
I put them in a bag with surgical spirit and soaked them, ready to use for cleaning teats. The gold standard dry-off procedure has a double clean which is crucial if you are using sealer only on SDCT cows.
Please be advised before any of our male readers think it’s a good idea to raid their other halves' make-up drawer; they should perhaps ask nicely first. A little trip to Penny’s might be in order!
A trip to the stationary shop has always been a favourite of mine, and a sturdy clipboard and whiteboard markers have always been useful for recording.
Another stop on the route was to the army supplies store in Midelton, where I bought myself a new rechargeable head torch as my husband likes to “borrow” all of mine for work.
But before I could even demonstrate my new purchase, a farmer spoke up and said the most important element of drying off cows is good lighting. Was I glad I had my new head torch to show off to him after that very valid comment? It’s perfecting the basics that make all the difference in the day, good light, extra help, clean surfaces and a full belly. Drying off cows “Hangry” is never fun.
Planning out the morning of drying off is so important for its success. Drafting the SDCT cows first will make sure you have the most energy to concentrate on their hygiene routine.
Drying off the sealer-only SDCT cows in a separate batch is a good idea so that each cow has the same routine instead of getting mixed up by swapping between sealer only and sealer plus antibiotic.
Having a clean standing area for at least 30 minutes post-drying is key for teat sphincter closer and then move them as far from the parlour as possible.
Drying off has become a serious focus on dairy farms, but the time and effort will be rewarded with lower SCC in the next lactation. I like the analogy that the dry period is the start of a new lactation and not the end of the last. As Jackson Brown Jr once said: “The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today”.
I am looking forward to heading North this weekend to the AVSPNI conference, which is a big event in the Northern Irish Veterinary calendar; perhaps it might even influence next week’s article.
