Drying off rules and guidelines

It’s that time of year again where we are looking forward to a bit of break from milking.

But first we need to get through drying off the herd. While to outsiders it may seem that everything is winding down, in reality we are getting everything sorted and organised for a flying start into the next milking season.

So, from us here is a checklist of things that should be ticked off before the herd goes for a break:

Checklist: before your herd dry's off

End of year herd test: to give you the best idea of which cows require which treatment a herd test within 60 days of drying off is necessary to give you the correct information to make an accurate drying off plan.

Mineral status of the herd, looking towards calving: Be it livers or bloods, it is wise to get an idea of how the heifers and the MA cows are doing with Se, B12, and Cu. A plan can be worked out now to give them the best chance at a great start next season

BCS: lighter animals can be and should have been dried off early to give them the greatest chance of meeting their body weight goals for the start of calving.

Milk quality / drying off consults: If you haven’t done this already then this is the time to book in your drying off consults with your primary vet. It is a great time to discuss the years mastitis results and sort a plan for next season. And, of course, this starts with drying off the herd. This is also a great time to discuss, johnes / BVD and anything else you’d like to tackle before calving starts and the craziness begins.

If you are wanting our tech team to assist with drying off or you would like a vet to give advice and training to your team for drying off, now is the time to book this in. An effective and successful drying off is the best way to ensure that mastitis during calving stays at a low, manageable level.

Once you’ve had your consult with your vet, the next phase is ordering your product.

There are two ways to do this:

Get in touch with Colin and organise a time for pick up or drop off.
Or
Give the clinic a call and order it with either Sasha or Rebecca. And again, organise a time for pickup or drop off.

In both cases we need 24 hours to get your order ready before you are able to pick this up. Please adhere to this, while we can work wonders in an emergency, we can’t do this on a regular basis, and we don’t like disappointing people.

And for the first time this year we will be requiring farm owners / managers / share milkers to sign a drying off disclaimer. This just to say that everybody acknowledges and accepts the inherent risk of drying off. This disclaimer should have been signed off during the drying off consult. But may also be signed during pick up of the product, if you’re drying off your own herd or during dry off, if our tech team is drying off the herd for you.

If you have any questions about this or any other issues, please get in touch with you primary vet or give the clinic a call.

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Drying off rules and guidelines

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