Recuperation for yourself and your cows during the Dry Cow Period

By Tom Murphy, B&T Dairy Adviser, Teagasc, Galway/Clare

It’s been a long and challenging year on the dairy farm. Compact calving spring dairy herds are in the process of drying, and on some farms the milking machine has shut down for 2023. Milk price has declined during the year, and the National Farm Survey Researchers have forecast a 60 % reduction in Dairy incomes from 2022. The year’s uncompromising difficult weather, has certainly reduced grass growth and/or utilisation on most farms, leading to lower production and/or higher costs – and has definitely dulled the mood of many.

However, now is the right time to take back control and help get 2024 off to a good start with a focus on trouble free calving and sensible plans for the year ahead.  Energy, enthusiasm and positivity are some of the key management attributes that drive success. A well-managed Dry Cow period is also the ideal time to recharge your own batteries, and hit the ground running when calving takes off next spring. The happiest and most productive Dairy farmers I come in contact with prioritise the break away from the farm (or even a number of breaks) in the December/January period.

This is vacation period for the dairy herd too and every cow should be managed to calve down healthy in 2024 with an optimum Body Condition Score (BCS) of 3.25 to 3.5, and with a healthy udder and a low Somatic cell Count (SCC).

All cows need to be dried for a sufficient time pre calving (at least 12 weeks for first- calvers and 8weeks for mature cows) or otherwise their subsequent yield will be significantly reduced.  As most dairy AI sires used on early calving cows lead to significantly shorter gestation lengths in recent years, the dry off dates should be brought forward by about 1 week. Cows with a BCS of less than 2.75 need an even longer dry period to regain their body reserves, and care (restricted feeding) may be needed to prevent individuals from getting above 3.5 BCS.

The dairy cow needs to calve fit (not over-fat), and should be managed accordingly. Cows calving too thin will struggle to achieve their potential yield and/or go back in calf again. Overfat cows are at a very high risk of suffering from metabolic disorders post calving. Most culling for health problems (70% of clinical disorders) happen at calving time. These problems invariably lead to carry over effects on milk production, health and fertility. Typical metabolic disorders at calving time (often inter related) include

• Milk fever (clinical and subclinical)
• Ketosis
• Displaced abomasum
• Retained placenta

Sensible feeding in the dry period will help to prevent these from occurring. Well preserved silage at 68% to 70% DMD is the ideal forage, but other forages which achieve the correct results when fed appropriately will also do a good job. Lower DMD silages may require some concentrate supplementation or a longer dry period to replenish body reserves satisfactorily. The same recommendation can help where cows are dried too thin. Ideally, analyse your silage and supplement according to the results if necessary. Likewise, analyse the silage fed for mineral content. Your mineral supplementation program can then be revised to address any issues encountered.

Nowadays most dry cow mineral mixes are carefully manufactured and balanced to address the critical requirements, but they must be fed as recommended. Mineral supplementation is recommended for the last seven weeks of pregnancy, and all cows need to receive the required allowance daily or issues can arise. There can be big variations in the price of dry cow minerals, but this variation still amounts to less than €1 per cow, whereas getting the specification wrong leading to ongoing problems,  could break you financially and mentally. With minerals, accuracy/precision is key, and careful calibration will deliver.

Unless your forage/silage is very low in Crude Protein (<12.5%), additional protein is not required. In herds with low quality colostrum, some research has shown benefits of feeding up to 1/2 kg of soya bean meal per cow per day in the last 2 weeks of gestation, leading to better quality beastings.

Ongoing research has identified the following two factors as having a significant impact on herd SCC during the dry cow period

1. Cubicles per cow: where more than one cubicle space per cow was available, a subsequent improvement of 31,000 SCC units was achieved versus only one or less available cubicle spaces.
2. Frequency of cubicle cleaning/disinfecting: where cleaned twice a day, subsequent SCC was improved by 39,000 SCC units compared to once a day only cleaning.

Overall, a well-managed dry cow period results in all cows calving at the recommended optimum body condition, and with optimum body/blood mineral levels. Ideally calving should get underway without health issues or any clinical cases of mastitis. The first milk recording should be planned for 30 days from start of calving, where heifers show a low SCC, and cows have a SCC lower than pre-drying. Most importantly the dairy farmer should be enthusiastically looking forward to the spring-calving challenge, with a recharged body and mind.

Contented Dry Cows at optimum BCS (3.25 to 3.5), in an airy low stocked slatted cubicle house (cubicle beds cleaned & lime dusted twice daily)