How advance planning for drying off protects herd health

Thinking ahead and being organised to plan drying off the whole herd is an opportunity to do a superb job and set the business up well for the following season.

A poorly executed drying-off protocol (owing to time pressure) risks losing cows from toxic mastitis, high cell counts not cured, or cows calving-in with mastitis.

See also: 5 ways to improve udder health with dry period management

Sheer numbers in a block-calving herd mean the consequences of getting just one step wrong at drying off are magnified, says veterinary director Kate Burnby, at Aberteifi Farm vets in Cardiganshire.

“Drying off six cows and making a mistake affects one or two cows. But drying off 60 or 600 cows at once, the stakes are higher and a greater proportion of animals are affected,” she says.

“The aim should be to dry cows off cleanly, calmly and efficiently, with no metabolic or udder consequences. Cows should be set up to go through the dry period to calve in the right condition and without mastitis.”

Udder health

Yet Kate points out that drying-off cows is not a standalone task – it is part of a structured process that begins mid-lactation and is based around team feedback and herd data analysis.

A review of udder health mid-season (using cell counts, mastitis cases and bulk tank results) establishes whether the farm’s dry period protocol is performing.

If something is not working, says Kate, this is the ideal time to consider editing the process and introducing changes.

A final milk recording should then be scheduled about three weeks before drying off to supply data for analysis that will inform decision-making.

“This means selecting which cow is definitely on the list for culling, antibiotic therapy, or only teat sealant.

“A small percentage [about 5%] will be a bit ambiguous, and the team will need to discuss where they fit,” she says.

“Ideally, through the season, you will also have collected samples from any mastitis cases and frozen 10 of them.

“They can be sent off to identify which bugs are causing a problem; this will help your vet select antibiotics specifically for your herd and you can order appropriate dry cow tubes.

“Purchase all necessary products so that everything is in stock on the farm two weeks before you start drying off cows.”

Herd review

Next in the calendar is a full herd review involving the farm team alongside the vet and nutritionist.

This takes place eight to 12 weeks before the end of lactation: June for an autumn-calving herd and September/October for a spring herd.

The aim is to discuss what works well and what needs improving, to develop a management strategy for the lead-up to drying off.

As well as udder health, a key area is cow condition and how this will be managed to make sure individual cows achieve the target score by the final milking.

This could mean preferential feeding for thin cows and poorly performing heifers, dropping to milking once a day, or drying off early, says Kate.

However, she warns against extra-long (more than 12 weeks) dry periods, otherwise cows get fat and lose days of milk; similarly, short dry periods (less than five weeks) impact the next lactation.

“It’s OK for specific animals, especially if looking for a cure rate in a high-cell-count cow, but target the majority of cows to get eight weeks dry,” she adds.

Planning also includes setting specific dry-off dates according to calving season. This means feed availability to reduce demand on the grazing platform, housing capacity or outwintering.

Dates may also be dictated by personal decisions such as for school holidays, or having sufficient downtime to get ready for calving, carrying out parlour maintenance, and giving everyone chance for a break.

© Tim Scrivener

Feed management

Feed rates need to be altered to ensure milk yields are below 15 litres/day for drying off, says Kate. Some farms may opt to drop to once-a-day milking for the whole herd.

She adds that this is also the time to consider where cows will be going for their dry period (away from the stimulation of parlour noise) as well as thinking about ration types and the logistics of feeding, with sufficient access to water.

Working backwards from the target drying-off dates, Kate says protocols for drying off correctly should be updated, with any staff refresher training booked in for the week before the job “so there isn’t panic on the day”.

A few vet practices now offer a technician service, meaning the whole procedure can be contracted out, she points out.

Flexibility and workflow

While thinking ahead cannot control the weather, she says it is still sensible to check the forecast and avoid bad days; a plan requires some built-in flexibility.

She finds most herds now dry their cows in one to three batches, according to calving date.

“A mature system will have most cows calved at the mid-point of calving, so you might dry off half the herd in one go, then two weeks later do some more and finally, in another two weeks, it’s the late calvers.”

The procedure should be a separate task to milking with thought given to the workflow.

Cows can be identified at morning milking for drafting off, ensuring nothing else is happening at the same time, to reduce stress levels.

“Do it calmly. Think about the number of people involved: you might need to enlist an extra pair of skilled hands – but people need to know your cows and systems.

“Don’t do too many stock jobs at once – speak to your vet about the best timing for vaccines or treatments needed and work out ideal timings.”

There is no rule on the numbers of cows that can be dried off in a day, as every setup is different – though Kate thinks it depends on attention span.

“How long can you concentrate for? Probably not longer than two hours – like milking – so it’s not an all-day event, unless you have changes of shifts.

“Three two-hour sessions, split over a week or two, are better than a solid six-hour session,” she says, adding that drafted cows must not stand waiting a long time before being dried off.

Follow-up checks

Records of cows, antibiotics batch numbers and expiry dates should be inputted to herd management systems on the same day, so that they are not forgotten.

However, this is not the last job on the list. Dry cows must be checked.

“They need inspecting for signs of any problems every four to six hours within the first 72 hours. The risk of E coli toxicity post drying off will happen in the first couple of days.

“Look for a cow separated from the others, not eating or looking unhappy. Pull her in and treat her,” says Kate.