Avoid Over Milking

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Mating is only a matter of weeks away.  The daily drafting of on heat cows can cause disruption to the milking routine.  This can result in over milking which is a risk factor for mastitis.  Now is the ideal time to make sure all staff are milking your cows in a way that reduces the chance of them getting mastitis.  Quickly check the following before milkings get busier with heat detection:

  • Does every teat of every cow get teat-sprayed every milking?
  • Is there an easy recipe to follow so that anyone can make up the teat-spray?
  • Does everyone break the vacuum before removing the cups?
  • Is there a BMSCC trigger level above which the herd gets stripped?
  • Can everyone recognise the signs of over milking?
    • Red or blue teats when the cups comes off
    • A ring of swelling at the top of the teat
    • Open teat ends
  • Can everyone recognise mastitis?

If over milking is occurring you may have to hang up clusters between rows or possibly not use the last few clusters.  Above all make sure everyone is aware that over milking is possible due to disruption caused by drafting and is a risk factor for mastitis.  Have a successful mating.

Nursing Downer Cows

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A recent conference session with Victorian vet Phil Poulton, PhD, highlighted the importance of nursing care given to downer cows.  A recently published study of Phil's showed 43% of cows with good nursing care recovered after 10 days - regardless of the initial cause of being down - compared to only 6%  with poor nursing care.  Downer cows are prone to a host of secondary problems including nerve damage, dislocated hips, muscle and spinal problems, which can be minimised when nursed appropriately.

Good nursing care includes:

  • Providing shelter from cold and rain (ideally in a clean, dry shed)
  • Thick bedding of hay, straw, sawdust, rice hulls or sand
  • Barriers to prevent crawling and walking (if unable to walk when lifted)
  • Lifted 1-2 times daily when able to support some weight, lowered when unable
  • Rolled several times daily to take pressure off lower leg
  • Access to high quality feed and water
  • Teat disinfection twice daily, milking if udder leaking
  • Moved using front-end loading bucket, not hip lifters.

For more detailed information see the Dairy Australia website or contact your prime vet.

Diagnosis and Treatment of Endometritis

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These cows typically have a creamy pussy discharge when 'Metrichecked' and may outwardly look to be in good health.  Even just a few flecks of pus on a 'Metricheck' device indicate that infection is present.  The longer these second stage infections remain undetected the greater the chance the cow will become infertile.

Long standing uterine infections cause permanent uterine scarring.  Recent trials have shown that those cows treated 1-3 weeks post calving have far better reproductive results than cows treated 4-8 weeks post calving.

The majority of uterine infections will have become undetectable 4 weeks post calving, even when using a 'Metricheck' device.  The infection however remains present deep inside the uterus.  These 'hard to detect' cows still have very poor fertility.  Early checking will considerably increase the chance of finding these 'dirty' cows.

All 'At risk' cows (RFM's, dead calvings, assisted calvings, vaginal discharge, twins) should be treated with a 'Metricure', 2-4 weeks post calving.

The rest of the herd should be 'Metrichecked' 7-28 days post calving.  Careful planning must be done to ensure calving groups can be identified for checking.  A sensible rational would be to identify cows calving up to the mid point and 'Metricheck' these 1-2 weeks after this date - e.g. August the 20th-25th.  The third quarter to calve is then marked again and checked 3 weeks later on about the 5th of September and the final quarter around another 3-4 weeks later on about the 5th of October.

Metricheck devices may be purchased or lent or you may use your vet to detect and treat during the same milking.