Many farmers will wait until most, or even all of the herd has calved before doing the first milk recording of the season……don’t wait! The sooner you start to milk record, the sooner you will identify infected cows that may not have any clinical signs. Early lactation mastitis is a high risk and dealing promptly with new infections will give you the best chance of curing them, and protecting the rest of the herd.

Early milk recording will also give you invaluable information on the success of your dry cow treatment, and management of your dry cows and in-calf heifers. The CellCheck Farm Summary Report looks specifically at mastitis control during the dry period and at calving, but it can only do this for cows that have a milk recording within 60 days of calving. So to get maximum value from your milk recording, if you haven’t already done a milk recording this season, get started now!

CellCheck Farm Summary Report:

looks at cows and heifers separately, so you can see any problems in different ages of animals calving
shows how many animals have picked up a new infection either over the dry period or at calving
calculates the percentage of cows cured over the dry period
gives both a short-term picture, as well as a running total for mastitis control over the entire dry period/calving period to date.

You may think sometimes that milk recording is a luxury that you can’t afford ……in fact, you can’t afford not to! It allows you to react quickly to cows with high SCC-these cows may have no visible signs of infection, but they will spread infection within your herd, raise your bulk tank SCC and are losing you money. It is also the best tool you have to establish which cows are the most productive in terms of fat, protein and milk yields, and are ‘paying their way’. So don’t delay, get started today!

CONTACT:

Munster Cattle Breeding Group: (023) 43228

Progressive Genetics: (01) 4502142

Tipperary Co-op: (062) 33111

Further information on milk recording is available in Guideline 23 of the CellCheck Farm Guidelines for Mastitis Control.