GippsDairy Focus Farms
Drying off cows on the Focus Farms
This article provides a summary of the procedures used by the Focus Farm families to dry off their cows this year.
Denison Focus Farm
Calving starts on August 1 and Ross Anderson reports that they will have 240 cows and 60 heifers to calve at that time.
Their herd already has a group of 160 autumn calvers.
At the May Support Group meeting on this Focus Farm the farm vet attended and worked through a dry cow program for the spring calvers as there had been a mastitis problem this lactation.
The spring calving cows will be in a condition score of approximately 5.0 at drying off and they will be out for seven to eight weeks.
Prior to drying off the grain will be stopped for a week and they will have a mostly hay diet. Production will be down to 10lt/cow/day or lower and some cows started drying themselves off early.
The herd is blanket treated with a long acting dry cow treatment. Each teat is treated with teat seal then covered with teat spray.
The vet provided an alternative to using sterile 'wipes' on each teat prior to inserting the dry cow treatment and teat seal. He suggests using cotton balls on each teat. The cotton ball should be moistened in a freshly made 70% methylated spirits to 30% water solution.
All treated cows will then go onto a clean area away from the dairy for a few days for observation. Most of the cows will then go to the nearby run-off block.
Willowgrove Focus Farm
Mick and Paula Hughes’ herd starts calving on July 15 and this year they have 293 cows to calve including 88 heifers.
The herd cell count at the start of drying off is in the 150,000 - 170,000 range. Cow condition score is approximately 4.6. The cows will probably calve at the same condition. All cows will have a 60 day dry period.
Each teat will be cleaned with an alcohol 'wipe' then sprayed with a proprietary ethanol-alcohol solution - then have a long acting dry cow treatment applied (49 day withholding period.).
Teat seal will be administered and the teats and udder will be fully sprayed with iodine teat spray.
Before the cows leave the dairy they will get a 7 in 1 vaccination.
The treated cows will go into a paddock well away from the dairy for three to four days on a hay ration. During this time they will be checked regularly.
The next move is into a dry cow mob. Last year all dry cows were in one group on the runoff block on a slow rotation with hay each day.
At drying off most cows will be down to 10 litres/cow/day production. Any above that will be cut back in their bail feed for 48 hours and put on pasture only.
Nar Nar Goon Focus Farm
Michael and Ancret Shipton are changing the herd calving pattern to late summer-autumn. There is a group of 78 cows and 40 heifers that will start calving in July.
As drying off date approaches the cows producing over 12 litres milk/day go onto once a day milking for a week and are fed a predominantly hay diet. Cows producing less than this milk volume per day are dried off without any prior diet changes.
At this time the cows will be in condition score 5.0.
The group will be blanket dry cow and teat seal treated. They use a long acting dry cow treatment. The cows will be out for a full eight weeks. They will also get a 7 in 1 vaccination on their drying off day.
Michael and Ancret's aim is to move the July calving group into the earlier calving pattern. It will take three years to complete.
Maffra Focus Farm
Calving starts on August 1 at this Focus Farm and Wayne and Dana Saunders and son Clinton started drying off cows in early May. At that time, Wayne selected a group of 55 of the lightest condition cows. Two more groups were dried off on the same basis.
On June 20, the remainder of the herd (the largest group) will be dried off. According to Wayne, "It is both the most ‘looked forward to’ and most ‘dreaded’ day of the year!" Prior to drying off, the cows are milked once a day for two to three days. At drying off the teats and udder are sprayed with 'copious' quantities of alcohol spray solution then blanket dry cow treatment, followed by a complete application of teat spray. For the following three to four days the cows get plenty of hay but very little pasture.
To avoid any breakouts, the cows are moved to paddocks across the road. They will be out for five to eight weeks. Their aim is to calve the cows in condition score 5. It is expected they will be a little lighter this year.
There are 450 head to calve and this includes 100 heifers (78 heifers are on agistment in South Gippsland, the remainder are at Maffra).
Foster Focus Farm
In mid May Kevin and Helen Jones pregnancy tested their herd. At the same time, every cow was blood tested for Johne's Disease. The ‘preg test’ showed they had 12% empty cows.
The following week, drying off started according to calving date to ensure every cow is out for six weeks.
They will milk between 360-400 cows and are still deciding on exactly the final number. It will include 80 heifers.
In the first fortnight of drying off they had 180 cows to go out. Cow condition score at drying off was 5.0 and they aim to hold that during the dry cow period if possible.
Each year there is a small group of cows that start drying themselves off early.
These, plus some older cows will get longer than six weeks rest. They have noticed that often these lighter cows produce twin calves. There are 15 to 20 sets of twins born each year.
Prior to drying off each group their grain will be pulled back and pasture reduced.
They may be producing up to 18 litres/ cow/day prior to the start of drying off.
On drying off day the cows are milked, teat sprayed, blanket dry cow treated and teat sprayed again. The cows will also get a 7 in 1 vaccination and drench.
They are put down the back of the farm for at least 10 days, then into a rotation following the milkers on a pasture and hay diet. If the paddocks start to get too wet the cows are moved to the runoff block across the road.
Middle Tarwin Focus Farm
Rod and Lyndell Cope and staff Diane and Phil started drying off cows in mid May.
There are 350 head including 90 heifers in the spring calving herd (44 autumn cows in the herd).
Each Monday a group is drafted out according to expected calving date. Calving starts on June 28.
They are pregnancy tested and if not in calf they go back into the herd.
Those to be dried off have their grain reduced to 1kg/cow/day (there is computer controlled feeding in the dairy) and pasture intake is reduced.
The following Monday is known as their 'dry off day'. There are three people in the dairy - they treat 40-50 cows/week. Cows that have had mastitis or with a high cell count recorded in Mistro get dry cow treatment plus teat seal. They use 'wipes' and each person works on one cow at a time. After that, all cows get a teat spray.
"We don't skimp on teat spray," says Rod.
Cows without a record of mastitis or high cell count get teat seal followed by liberal teat spray.
These dry cows then go to a paddock away from the shed and are monitored for a week. After that they then join a dry mob of up to 200 cows. All cows will be out for seven weeks and 17 paddocks have been identified for the dry cows to rotate around. The cows will go out in condition score 5.0 and should hold at that. They will be offered a 10kgDM/day ration of pasture plus hay or silage.
The Focus Farms Project is an initiative of GippsDairy and supported by the Gardiner Foundation and Dairy Australia.
For more information about the project contact: John Gallienne Mob 0407 863 493.
