Dairy Calendar

January

Remove bulls from the dairy platform when mating finishes
Calves should start their lepto programme if not already started
Cows and heifers will need a lepto booster in the next 1-2 months
Body Condition Score your herd
Weigh Calves (consider Growright)
Monitor calves for polio/PEM – signs include blindness, staggering, and stargazing
Heifer PD’s can start 6 weeks after bull removal
Update your MINDA records with your clinical mastitis cases

Dry off cows with a BCS of 3.0 or lower at the start of the month
Arrange a herd test to assist in culling and dry cow therapy decisions
Restart magnesium supplementation to prevent Autumn metabolics
Monitor herd for bloat
Final PD to identify late calving cows, inductions, and empties
Book an InCalf consult with your prime vet to review your reproductive performance following your final PD
Clearly mark and identify any cows that are dried off early with dry cow therapy
Consider combination therapy (antibiotic + teatseal) in early dried off cows

Dry off cows with a BCS of 3.5 or lower at the start of the month
Body Condition Score your herd and plan for strategic early dry-off of light cows, to ensure cows can reach their calving targets
Final lepto boosters for calves if not already completed
Consider a second whole herd PD to detect foetal loss before winter
Dry off cows with high SCC or producing less than 5L per day
Record all clinical mastitis cases into MINDA in preparation for your Annual Mastitis Review
Book in Annual Mastitis Review with your prime vet
Consider pre-dryoff cow drench

Dry off cows with a BCS of 4.0 or lower at the start of the month
Heifers can be teatsealed from May onwards
Weigh calves to ensure they are on target (consider Growright)
Consider a late whole herd PD to detect foetal loss before winter
Consider salmonella vaccination (sensitizer) if abortion or cow deaths were an issue last season
Book in Tracecheck or Optigrow liver biopsies for pre-winter Trace Element monitoring
Reduce feed intake for the last week of milking
Body Condition Score your herd before they go to the run-off

Get a baseline Body Condition Score done at the start of the wintering period to calculate daily feed requirement/ allocation
Sort your Rotavec orders, should be administered 3 weeks prior to calving
Book in your RVM (restricted veterinary medicine) consult with your prime vet
Consider lice treatment if a pour-on drench was not used pre-dryoff
Test crops and pasture for nitrate levels monitor cows for signs of toxicity

Get a Body Condition Score done at the start of July to monitor condition gain/ wintering programme (calving target = 5.0 - 5.5 for cows and 5.5 – 6.0 for heifers)
Start Magnesium supplementation 3-4 weeks before the planned start of calving
Inject cows with selenium 2-4 weeks prior to calving if no selenium administered over the Winter period
Enrol staff for the Spring Seminar for Workers
Rotavec should be administered 3 weeks prior to calving
Weigh calves to evaluate wintering programme (consider Growright)
A blood test can be performed on 15 yearling calves to determine BVD status of the group

Get a Body Condition Score done on your Springer and Dry Cows to assess the success of your wintering programme
Arrange for a blood test of Colostrum cows as part of the Tracecheck programme to assess transition management and mineral status
Identify and mark all cows calved before the midpoint and arrange to metricheck this group 2 weeks after the last cow has calved
A BVD sensitiser needs to be given to unvaccinated heifers, cows, and bulls 8 weeks prior to the start of mating
Yearlings can be given another shot of long acting selenium to set them up for mating
Monitor your BMSCC and discuss with your prime vet if rising or grading
Start calf debudding and give your Covexin (clostridial) sensitiser vaccination
Avoid grazing effluent paddocks with colostrum and springer cows

Tail paint should be applied 35 days before the planned start of mating to identify pre-mating heats
A BVD booster vaccination should be given 3-5 weeks before the PSM if in a programme
Metricheck the second half of your herd/ later calving cows 2 weeks after they have calved
Sign up for the BVD bulk milk monitoring package
Weigh yearlings prior to the mating period (consider Growright)
Check cow teat health – greater than 1 in 15 lesions can be indicative of plant or liner issues
Start calf debudding and give your Covexin (clostridial) sensitiser vaccination
Arrange for pre-mating bloods to be taken (as part of Tracecheck) to check trace elements levels
Discuss heifer mating synchrony programmes with your vet, especially if considering a double shot PG programme
Organise a pre-mate InCalf consult with your prime vet

Get a Body Condition Score done on your herd to see if they have reached targets for the PSM (target = 4.5 for cows, 5.0 for heifers)
Arrange for pre-mating bloods to be taken (as part of Tracecheck) to check trace elements levels
Industry target is for 75% of your herd to have had a pre-mating heat 10 days before the PSM
Non-cyclers should be examined/treated before the 10th day of mating to ensure they are mated within the first 3 weeks (should be calved >35 days)
Consider a PG programme in heifers after 6 days of mating to condense your AI period
Run light and younger cows separately over the mating period
Metricheck your late calving cows 2 weeks after the last one has calved
Train all staff in heat detection and drafting during mating
Watch for bloat on second round grass

Booster vaccinate your calves with Covexin/ clostridial vaccine
Begin your calf drenching programme
Examine remaining non-cyclers on day 24-25 of mating
Weigh your calves (consider Growright)
Continue to teatspray after every milking for the whole of the season
Monitor for pink-eye in calves, consider vaccination in at-risk mobs
Maintain heat detection as a priority for the second 3 weeks (don’t let standards slip)
Discuss lameness prevention with staff (consider Healthy Hoof)

Herds identified with high/toxic copper levels last Autumn should be liver biopsied again in December
Ensure sufficient bulls to follow up AI. The recommendation is to have 1 bull for every 30 cows not pregnant to AI in the herd at ALL times
Remove and treat lame bulls, and ensure they are replaced to ensure adequate bull cover
Early pregnancy testing of non-return cows 35-40 days post-insemination to detect and treat phantom cows
Remove bulls from heifers after an 8-9 week mating period
Replace the milking liners
Drop off milk samples for culture if you are having mastitis issues
Renew your Leptocred accreditation if required