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  • Prevention of Sub-Acute Ruminal Acidosis (SARA)
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  • Dry Cow Management
  • Managing Dry Cow Body Condition
  • Heifer Replacement
  • Feeding Breeding Heifers in the late Autumn/early Winter period
  • Drying Cows off Early
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Drying Cows off Early

Drying cows off with high milk volumes can be tricky but not impossible. In high yielding herds in Ireland and in the Continent it is not uncommon to dry cows milking up to 5 gallons a day.

The safest system to dry cows off without incurring mastitis is as follows:

Day 1 AM – Milk out cow and insert 4 dry cow tubes or mastitis tubes. Teat spray pre and post milking. Apply a spot-on preparation to cover flies. Leave out for 3 days on a dry bare paddock away from parlour ideally fully grazed out.

Day 4 AM – Milk out cow and discard milk. Insert 4 long acting dry cow tubes plus Boviseal. Teat spray pre and post milking. Move cow to a bare paddock as far away from parlour as possible, to avoid milking parlour triggering milk let down reflex.

The cow will bag up significantly but do not worry, leave the cow bag up, this bagging up will trigger cow to shut down milk production and she will absorb this milk back into her system and dry up her udder.

Avoid leaving cows in a shed during this period as they will be more prone to mastitis. They will be more likely to leak on cubicles than outside. Be careful putting cows on straw only as they may get constipated. A bare paddock outside is best option.