Preparing for drying off

A selective drying off strategy (SDCT) results in a more targeted use of antibiotic treatments. The identification of specific cows that require an antibiotic is the first step. The goal of SDCT is to use as little antibiotic as possible but as much as necessary, to minimise the risk of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) developing. AMR occurs when an antibiotic that was previously effective to treat a bacterial infection or disease is no longer effective, which affect us all, as the same antibiotics are used in both animal and human health. It is important when identifying cows for selective dry cow therapy that you get veterinary advice to help select the cows that are suitable.

If you have applied for a Cell Count solutions visit with your veterinary practitioner which is not completed, it is worthwhile completing the visit during late lactation before 31^st October. It will provide an opportunity to go through drying off procedures as well as other milking routine issues that may arise. Most importantly, it is free and allows the vet to prescribe prudently for your cows.

Whether you are using antibiotic dry cow tubes, internal teat sealant or both, meticulous hygienic administration is essential to prevent bacteria entering the quarter and causing infection. Good hygiene will prevent new infections and influence the incidence of mastitis next year. When using teat seal only, the antibiotic is no longer present to protect the cows against poor hygiene at drying off. We need to change how we view drying off cows from ‘just drying off a few cows’ to ‘a highly important job that needs to be done with the utmost of care’.  Preparation is the first key step in any drying off procedure and care needs to be taken to ensure this task is done properly. The key steps are:

• Don’t dry off cows during milking – draft them off and bring them back into a clean parlour. Postpone if the weather is wet on the day you had planned to dry off – it is very hard to be hygienic when tails and udders are wet.
• Clip tails in the days beforehand.
• Plan for the time and labour.
• Have everything ready in the parlour before you start.
• Mark the cows clearly for treatment.
• Do not immerse individual tubes in water.
• Sterilise the teat ends to a surgical standard in a repeatable pattern e.g. Front left, front right, back right and back left
• Infuse the tubes in the reverse pattern i.e. Back left, back right, front right and front left

» Sterile insertion of the nozzle into the teat canal. If the end of a tube is contaminated at any time i.e. touches anything apart from the teat end, discard it and use a new one.

» Massage dry cow antibiotic up into the quarter – DO NOT massage the teat sealant!

» If dry cow antibiotic and teat sealant are being used together, repeat the teat sterilisation in between and make sure the teat sealant goes in last.

» Ensure your forearms and gloved hands are cleaned in between treating the cows, and if gloves are damaged, get a new pair.

• Thoroughly teat dip or teat spray teats after tubing
• Record cow ID, date and details of product(s) used.
• Keep cows standing in a dry and clean environment for the first two hours after drying off, until teat ends have closed and the risk of bacteria gaining access to the quarter has reduced.
• Check them at least once daily for any signs of swollen quarters or illness.

If you want to dry off the last cow as well as you did the first cow, do not dry off more than 20 cows per person in one day.