Practical Tips on how to safely dry off cows.
Key facts
- Dry cow therapy is the cornerstone of udder health management. If infections can be prevented during the dry period and any existing infections safely treated then the cow will calve down again with a low cell count, healthy udder
- Progressive farmers are now using Selective Dry Cow Therapy (where the treatment used is defined by the level of infection in the udder) and antibiotic treatment is restricted to cows where infection is suspected or the cow is high risk of infection.
- The dry udder is 20x more at risk of infection than the udder during lactation and research has shown that up to 50% of mastitis infections occurring in the lactation may relate to infections contracted in the dry period
- A common cause of mastitis in lactation is unhygienic drying off techniques.
- The use of teat sealants ( Orbeseal, Cepralock) has transformed udder health management and every cow should be dried off with teat sealants as they protect the udder from infections during the dry period.
How to dry cows off safely
- Please watch this video to learn how to dry off cows in a safe and practical way. This could be your most informative 10 minutes of your week!