Benefits of herd testing in dry conditions

Herd testing provides timely, valuable insights into your herd and is an essential tool when making decisions on farm during challenging environmental conditions.  

Identify cows to dry-off

DairyNZ’s SmartSAMM guideline recommends drying off cows as soon as their production reaches 5 litres or less. This is due to milk quality towards the end of their lactation. Cows producing 5 litres or less per day may have elevated cell counts as the number of cells becomes more concentrated with lower volumes of milk.

Using herd test results to identify poor-producing cows and make informed dry-off decisions can result in better nutrition for your higher producing animals that are still milking.

Get the most out of your herd test data by using the reports available in MINDA.

The SCC report gives an indication of an individual cow’s current SCC, a history of the last 10 SCC’s from herd testing and how many times she has exceeded thresholds.

The Herd Test report can also provide valuable information by looking at how individual cows are producing – you may choose to keep milking her or dry her off.

Select dry-off treatments

Once you’ve identified what cows to dry-off, you’ll need to select what treatments will be administered to reduce the risk of infection.

There is a shift away from drying off whole herds with antibiotic dry cow therapy in a blanket fashion, towards a more targeted use of antibiotic dry cow therapy, with the remaining cows receiving a non-antibiotic internal teat sealant (ITS).

Somatic cell count (SCC) information from herd testing allows you to put a targeted treatment plan in place.

For more information on herd testing talk to your local Agri Manager or take a look at our herd testing page.