46 Follow us on Twitter: @PrairieFarming Better Farming | November/December 2023 Alsop shares some of her tips for treating cows at dry-off: Make sure the teats are clean. Wear gloves. Strip quarters for any remaining milk. Place the tube with only one-quarter of the tip in the teat to reduce damage to the teat canals. With teat sealant, block off the top of the teat at the udder prior to inserting the tube tip. Insert the tube contents into the teat and hold so they’re stuck in the teat canal for 10 seconds. We don’t want this going up into the quarter like antibiotic treatment. Post-dip cows after you’re done. As more data is collected on farms and more information is shared about mastitis risk, selective dry cow therapy may be an opportunity for producers to reduce antibiotic use on their farm. Selective dry cow therapy As the dairy industry aims to reduce antibiotic use on-farm, many producers have been making the shift to selective dry cow therapy. The implementation of this practice requires assessment of mastitis risk at the herd and individual cow level. “I have a few producers who have worked away from blanket treatment and it works well for them, but I’m picky on which farms start doing that,” says Alsop. “I have a list of standards before they start selective treatment.” Paibomesai says, “Working with your vet to make a plan on how to make that switch is the best way – they know what’s going on with your herd currently and can help you make those changes.” Somatic cell count (SCC) should be assessed at the herd level first to determine if the farm is a good candidate to start selective therapy. Alsop recommends an annual average bulk tank SCC of less than 250,000 cells per millilitre, with no month where the bulk tank SCC is over 300,000 cells per millilitre. Paibomesai suggests that those who don’t meet the standards at the herd level should maintain blanket dry cow treatment and focus on reducing SCC by other means before attempting selective treatments. On a cow level, it is recommended by Alsop that SCC is less than 150,000 cells per millilitre for first lactation animals, and less than 200,000 cells per millilitre for multiparous animals. These benchmarks may vary between farms and should be determined in consultation with a vet. The use of teat sealant in selective dry cow therapy programs is also farm dependent. While it is recommended by Alsop to continue using teat sealants on every cow, some farms may be able to maintain udder health in a selective dry cow therapy program without them. Reinoud Verhoef, owner of Verhoef Dairy Farm in Belmont, used a selective dry cow therapy program between 2010 and 2020, and has not used any treatment for dry cows in the last two years. “From 2010 to 2020, we were milk testing every month and I had individual SCC on every cow. If it was 100,000 or below, we wouldn’t treat them, and if it was higher I would,” says Verhoef. “In that timeframe, it was a reduction of 50 per cent in treatments. So that was quite a bit.” Verhoef says that he learned about selective dry cow therapy from Dutch dairy magazines and thought it was worth trying. “Since 2021, we haven’t had individual milk testing anymore for SCC. I was losing all that info, so I was a little worried but wanted to try selective treatment without it. Without individLivestock Discover what your pre-seed burndown Has Been missing SUMMON POWER the of INSIGHT® is a registered trademark of ISK BIOSCIENCES CORP. REGISTRATION NO: 34234 PEST CONTROL PRODUCTS ACT. ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW LABEL DIRECTIONS. Speak with your retail or Gowan representative to learn more. SCAN FOR MORE INFO ABOUT INSIGHT! Earn up to 50 cents/acre off Insight Liquid SC instantly!! Any favourite parts of your fave farm magazine? What do you want more of? Less of? Email to let us know. Paul.Nolan@Farms.com WHAT ARE YOU READING?
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