DRY TO FRESH TIPS 80% of disease and animal loses in the dairy herd occur from 21 days pre calving to 60 days post calving.
Three Main check-points for drying off, to ensure a more successful transition: 1. Body condition score 3.0 2. Healthy claws 3. Milk yield at dry off less than 10 litres
1. Body condition score Body condition scoring cows at 100 days pre-dry off, and then at drying off, is the best way to see if changes need to be made to the nutrition of your cows. Cows with a condition score of over 3 at drying off are at risk of fatty liver syndrome which predisposes the animal to metabolic disorders post-calving. Common disorders are ketosis and milk fever which aren’t always displayed by clinical symptoms and are very costly to the farmer. In addition to this these, over conditioned animals have calves with higher birth weights which my require assistance at calving. Intervention increases the risk of uterine infections that impacts on the general health and wellbeing of the animal as well as effecting reproduction. Intervention check list ࢚ 90% of animals should calf with no intervention ࢚ Just wait intervention always creates risk ࢚ Check if no progress after 2 hours ࢚ At intervention disinfectant, lubricant, time, space. Care should also be taken to ensure maiden heifers aren’t over conditioned at first calving as they are also suspectable to the same disorders and disease as mature dairy cows. Research has shown that calving at 24 months substantially reduces risk of excessive body condition at calving and associated metabolic disorders. 2. Healthy Claws Ideally farms should adopt a policy of routinely trimming animals’ feet at dry off, as a preventative rather than a cure. Good mobility dramatically increases feed intakes of the freshly calved cow, and allows foot problems to be diagnosed and treated before the next lactation. Higher dry matter intakes post-calving, reduces the negative-energy-balance gap, and means higher milk yields with less metabolic disorders. 3. Milk yield at dry off This graph clearly shows the risk of drying animals off with high milk yields
DRY TO FRESH TIPS
Where possible animals should be dried off at below 10 litres daily production. Drying off above this yield causes milk leakage on bedding and leads to environmental mastitis. In addition to these animals become more susceptible to mastitis at calving.
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