Impact of Selective Dry Cow Therapy on Antimicrobial Consumption, Udder Health, Milk Yield, and Culling Hazard in Commercial Dairy Herds

The main objective of the study was to evaluate whether or not implementing selective dry cow therapy (SDCT) on commercial dairy farms reduces antimicrobial consumption without negatively affecting future performances when compared to blanket dry cow therapy (BDCT). Twelve commercial herds in the Fl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Antibiotics (Basel) 2023-05, Vol.12 (5), p.901
Main Authors: Lipkens, Zyncke, Piepers, Sofie, De Vliegher, Sarne
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algorithms
Animal lactation
Anti-infective agents
Antibiotics
Antiinfectives and antibacterials
Antimicrobial agents
antimicrobial consumption
Cattle
Commercial farms
Comparative analysis
Consumption
Consumption data
cow performance
Culling
Dairy cattle
Dairy farming
Dairy farms
Dairy industry
Drying
Goats
Mastitis
Milk
Milk production
Pathogens
Sealants
selective dry cow therapy
Standard deviation
Teat dips
test-day SCC
Therapy
Udder
Veterinary medicine
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Summary:The main objective of the study was to evaluate whether or not implementing selective dry cow therapy (SDCT) on commercial dairy farms reduces antimicrobial consumption without negatively affecting future performances when compared to blanket dry cow therapy (BDCT). Twelve commercial herds in the Flemish region of Belgium with overall good udder health management were enrolled in a randomized control trial, including 466 cows that were assigned to a BDCT ( = 244) or SDCT ( = 222) group within herds. Cows in the SDCT group were dried off with internal teat sealants combined or not with long-acting antimicrobials according to a predefined algorithm based on test-day somatic cell count (SCC) data. Total antimicrobial use for udder health between drying off and 100 days in milk was significantly lower in the SDCT group (i.e., a mean of 1.06 defined the course dose) compared to the BDCT group (i.e., a mean of 1.25 defined the course dose), although with substantial variation between herds. Test-day SCC values, milk yield, and the clinical mastitis and culling hazard in the first 100 days in milk did not differ between the BDCT and SDCT groups. SCC-based and algorithm-guided SDCT is suggested to decrease the overall use of antimicrobials without jeopardizing cows' udder health and milk yield.
ISSN:2079-6382
2079-6382
DOI:10.3390/antibiotics12050901