The proactive steps to take to promote low cell count in early lactation

Padraig O’Connor joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s episode of The Dairy Edge to consider why you should complete an early milk recording event to manage SCC and mastitis from early lactation. Padraig explains that there are several reasons: cows have been dried for a significant amount of time and therefore an early milk recording will establish the baseline SCC for the herd and identify any problem cows. Furthermore, it is an opportunity to assess the success of the dry period. Padraig recommends that farmers consider the role of persistently high SCC cows, particularly if they are older cows with multiple records of high SCC in previous lactations. He explains that these cows will likely continue to elevate bulk SCC and are at risk of spreading mastitis infection to low SCC cows in the herd. For more information: https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/publications/2022/Dairy-Newsletter---February-2022.pdf For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/ The Dairy Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.com