Dairy Management: dosing dairy cows and planning for Christmas

Dosing

With the majority of dairy cows on spring calving farms now dried off, attention will turn to dosing and animal health. Firstly, the highest risk period for picking up mastitis is in the first two weeks after drying off and the last two weeks before calving.

The infections may not present themselves until after cows calve, but they can often originate in the dry period. Studying the CellCheck reports that come after the first milk recording will highlight any flaws with dry cow management.

Secondly, parasite control is best done during the dry period. The five main parasites to be aware of are lung and stomach worms, liver and rumen fluke and lice. Fluke is farm specific and a problem more common on wetter farms.

Anyone that has taken part in herd health programmes will have good data on exposure to fluke and whether or not the herd needs to be dosed.

If dosing for liver fluke, be aware of what the dose will cover, for example adult only or adult plus early immature or immature fluke. If rumen fluke is a concern, speak to your vet as there are limited dosing options available for this and the risk of resistance is high.

As always, check withdrawal periods, particularly for pregnant cows and dose according to weight. It is better to overdose than underdose. There are fewer reports of lungworm issues this autumn/winter but it is still something that needs to be monitored, particularly in youngstock that are not thriving.

Lime

Travelling around the country this week, I see there are still farmers spreading lime, which is good to see as conditions are still ideal in many places.

One of the things to be aware of is the requirement to spread lime as part of the nitrates derogation. Whether or not lime needs to be spread will be outlined on the nutrient management plan which was drawn up by the farm adviser.

I know of some farmers who got caught out last year when they forgot to spread lime when they should have as part of the derogation. If taking soil samples, remember to take the sample before spreading lime.

Also, if planning fertiliser use next spring, it is better not to spread urea or slurry on land that got lime in the previous six months.

Preparation

With days to go before businesses close down for Christmas, make sure the farm is well stocked up on essentials. Diesel, feed and dry cow minerals are key ones, but on autumn/winter herds there are more things to think about, such as milk replacer, parlour supplies and other consumables.

Have plenty of spare parts in stock, particularly commonly used water fittings, scraper parts or tractor parts. Scraper oil and Adblue could be needed over Christmas too.

Check slurry tanks and stores, and if slurry needs to be moved to a different tank have this arranged in plenty of time.

Many contractors have pipes that go on to agitators that can move slurry quickly. Make sure to roster in plenty of downtime for everyone working on the farm over Christmas and enjoy the time off.