Eltham Vet
Eltham Vet Services is a 10-vet practice that has served the farms and family pets of Central and South Taranaki with distinction since 1937. For your pet’s healthcare & your peace of mind contact or visit us.
It has been a season of two halves in Taranaki, half of you got rain and half of you didn’t. It certainly has been gut wrenching to see some of the harder hit farms over the last month as we have made our way around the district with scanning and vaccinating. I am always amazed at the stoicism shown by farmers in the face of real adversity but, even with that in mind, it’s always good to be checking on your mates and neighbours in these tough times. Fingers crossed this rain sees the end of the dry times and farms have the chance to recover before winter sets in.
Most of this newsletter is dedicated to drying off. There has been a lot of new work in this space over the past 18 months as industry guidelines over dry cow antibiotic therapy (DCAT) tighten again. To help people improve their drying off procedures and understanding of why this is important we also hosted a drying off workshop at the clinic for those farmers keen to learn, hopefully we were able to convince a few of you that whole herd DCAT isn’t the only option! As part of the drying off process, if you want any dry cow antibiotics or teatsealants, you will have to have a consult with your key vet prior to picking this up. To make sure the consultation process is as efficient as possible we ask that you send in your dry cow form at least a few days before your consult, no form = no consult! So make sure you are as informed as possible and all organised for this years drying off by booking your dry cow consult now.
While you are in the clinic having a dry cow consult with your key vet, why not kill 2 (or 3) birds with one stone and have your Annual Farm Review at the same time, so you are all ready for the new season and organised when the shed inspector comes calling. This is a great way to discuss key metrics of your farm’s productivity, like reproduction, udder health and young stock management, and get a plan in place for, how to maximise your cow’s health and performance. Even if you aren’t going for Fonterra’s co-operative difference, it’s a great idea to get a vets perspective of your farms performance. Call the clinic now to book in your dry cow and annual farm reviews!
This guide will help you to minimize stress by fully feeding cows through dry off.
- Reducing the plane of nutrition is a more effective tool than switching to once daily milking. Reductions in milk yields by up to 30% can be achieved within a short period.
- Be aware that simply reducing DMI can lead to confused, hungry milking cows, we still need to fully feed the cow. Reduce the proportion of protein feeds i.e. grass, quality grass silage, PKE, protein blends and replace with high NDF, fibrous feeds – hay or poor quality grass silage. This will reduce milk volume but keep the cow happy, reducing walking, metabolic stress and risk of mastitis.
Golden rules regardless of production
A successful dry off will ensure no hungry cows, no weight loss, no metabolic disease, minimal/no mastitis and minimal stress on the immune system.
Culling is a very important part of your mastitis control plan. Done correctly it will reduce the spread of mastitis bacteria and should lower the need for both lactation mastitis treatments and antibiotic DCT. Culling cows based on repeated high SCC (over 150,000) over 2 seasons and cows that have repeated clinical infections lowers your risk of unresponsive infections and means you should need to use less antibiotics in the future.
Cows that have 3 or more clinical cases in 1 season should be culled. Cows that have had repeated high SCC (over 150,000) over 2 seasons and have received DCAT (dry cow antibiotic therapy) in the previous dry period should be culled. These cows are very unlikely to respond to another round of DCAT as they are very likely to have a resistant infection such as Staph aureus.
To check out which cows to cull based on repeated high SCC if using MINDA, Go to Reporting
Go to Milking and select Somatic Cell Count
Sort the report by clicking Current SCC Exceeded, if you click it twice the highest ones will be sorted from the top down.
Looking at the report below the cows to cull are 120, 133, 169 and 344 as they have been above threshold for all herd tests over 2 seasons. The other cows on this list were not high last season but high for 3/3 herd tests this season so they have a chance to cure with DCAT in the upcoming dry period. The same applies to heifers that have been high all season. They have a chance to cure because this is their 1st season milking and have not received DCAT in the past.
Please discuss with your vet at your mastitis/DCT consult
Using whole herd teatsealants is now the gold standard for mastitis prevention in the dry period and at calving in herds in NZ. Teatsealants are non-antibiotic and form a physical barrier immediately on insertion, blocking the entry of bacteria into the udder throughout the dry period.
Teatsealants last a lot longer than dry cow antibiotic therapy (DCAT) (10 weeks maximum vs 20+ weeks). Because they last so long in the teat, teatsealants are the best product we can use to help combat a herd mastitis problem that occurs around calving.
Teatsealants are designed to be used alone in cows that have low SCC and no history of clinical mastitis or in combination with DCAT for cows with a SCC above threshold, clinical mastitis, or positive RMT. Large numbers of cows in New Zealand have dry periods that are longer than the protective period of any DCAT. New Zealand studies have shown an average dry period length of approximately 13 weeks. In the graph the blue line shows the protective period of the longest acting dry cow antibiotic. Teatsealants are perfect for use in cows dried off early, late calving cows, or holdovers if you don’t want to treat the whole herd. If you think that teatsealants would be appropriate in your herd please contact the clinic to talk to a vet or arrange to have a chat about it with your DCT consult.
Staphylococcus Aureus is a common bacteria found on people and cows skin including cow’s udders. It can cause mastitis in cows that is often hard to cure as it hides away from antibiotics and the cows immune system in micro-abscesses within the udder. It can be spread from cow to cow during milking but it does not spread quickly unless there are high levels of infected cows in the herd in the first place. Infections within a herd tend to only build-up over time. Cure rates with antibiotics during lactation are very low unless you are treating a cow the first time she has picked up the infection. Antibiotic drycow cure rates average 50% with a range of 20% to 85%. We recommend culling Staph cows with a proven infection if they have received antibiotic dry cow therapy and still have a high somatic cell count on herd test in the new lactation.
Recent research has shown that if you do not have an issue with high bulk somatic cell count, and therefore do not have a high level of subclinical infections in your herd, you do not need to be so concerned about Staph Aureus infections. In a low bulk milk SCC herd with effective teat spraying, good plant management (pulsation and vacuum are appropriate), minimal teat end damage, regularly changed liners and hot washes after each milking the chances of Staph Aureus spreading are low.
There has been a lot of talk about Staph Aureus lately in the industry, with multiple companies offering different types of testing. If you look for staph aureus in your low cell count cows you will find some and may end up culling good cows that don’t have staph aureus mastitis. Mastitis is defined as inflammation in the udder and a cow with a low SCC over a number of herd tests and/or no evidence of clinical mastitis does not have inflammation of the udder. If the whole herd is cultured Staph Aureus will be found but it is likely to be a non-virulent strain i.e. will not cause inflammation/infection or has come from skin outside of the udder. Not all Staph Aureus bacteria cultured are nasty.
The cornerstone of mastitis control is good milking management, teat spraying, finding clinical cases quickly, and culling problem cows. Culling decisions should still be made using the herd testing results and clinical mastitis records.
The girls are back!
Body condition score target of a heifer is 5.5 at calving. Even if a heifer looks ‘fat’ we can expect a heifer to keep growing until she turns 4 (breed dependent). If you notice a poor 3 week submission rate in your heifers on FFR, this likely flow on for poor calving spread for years to come. Ketosis, mastitis and underfeeding can derail even the best grown heifers. Well managed heifers can perform at 80-90%/kgMS of mature cows due to their genetics. If you want to improve heifer performance in your herd contact the clinic to discuss.
With culls going to the works in the next few weeks this is a perfect time to get your animal’s livers tested for copper, selenium and cobalt.
These three trace elements are essential for many functions in cattle including immune system function, growth, reproduction and milk production. Levels often drop to their lowest during winter which is why we like to check where they’re at and top them up if necessary before dry-off.
Knowing where your levels are means we can plan to optimise levels at dry off and pre-calving, helping to support your cow’s immune systems at these stressful times.
Please contact the clinic on 06 764 8196 or info@elthamvetservice.co.nz to request a form for you to email or return in person 24 hours before the truck leaves and send a copy of the filled in form with the truck driver.
Below we have Nat, Johanna & Teresa who competed in the Taranaki 6 Hour adventure race, unfortunately there is no photo evidence of them completing the hobby horse section! We also have Jill Watson & Oh My Holly who placed 2nd in Horse of the year Amateur rider. Congratulations Jill!
Eltham Vet Services is a 10-vet practice that has served the farms and family pets of Central and South Taranaki with distinction since 1937. For your pet’s healthcare & your peace of mind contact or visit us.
