Short communication: Drying-off practices and use of dry cow therapy in Finnish dairy herds

The objective of this study was to survey drying-off practices and use of dry cow therapy (DCT) in Finland through an online questionnaire. The questionnaire was accessible to all dairy farmers of the Finnish dairy herd recording system in 2016 (approximately 5,400 farms). In total, 715 dairy produc...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of dairy science 2018-08, Vol.101 (8), p.7487-7493
Main Authors: Vilar, M.J., Hovinen, M., Simojoki, H., Rajala-Schultz, P.J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Anti-Bacterial Agents - therapeutic use
Cattle
Cell Count
Dairying - methods
dry cow therapy
drying-off practices
Female
Finland
Mastitis, Bovine - drug therapy
Mastitis, Bovine - prevention & control
Milk
selective dry cow therapy
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The objective of this study was to survey drying-off practices and use of dry cow therapy (DCT) in Finland through an online questionnaire. The questionnaire was accessible to all dairy farmers of the Finnish dairy herd recording system in 2016 (approximately 5,400 farms). In total, 715 dairy producers across the country, representative of the Finnish dairy industry, participated in the survey. Cows were dried off gradually in most of the farms. Most farms (78%) reported using selective DCT, whereas 9% of farms did not use any DCT, and 13% of farms applied blanket DCT. A significant trend was observed with increasing herd size and proportion of farms using blanket DCT. Percentage of farms using blanket DCT was also higher in farms with automatic milking system. Farmer's own experience was the most commonly reported reason for choosing a particular approach to DCT. Microbiological testing of milk samples at dry-off was the preferred method of selecting cows for DCT; 82 and 64% of farms using selective and blanket DCT approach, respectively, reported testing milk samples before treatment. The second most common criteria for using antibiotic DCT were clinical mastitis history and high somatic cell count. A high number of farms using selective DCT reported treating only up to one-fourth of their cows at dry-off. Information acquired on drying-off practices in Finland allows for future monitoring of prudent antimicrobial usage at dry-off.
ISSN:0022-0302
1525-3198
DOI:10.3168/jds.2018-14742