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Selective Dry Cow Strategy for Dairy Herds Information for Prescribing Vets and Farmers
From Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
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New Veterinary Medicines Regulation EU 2019/6 which came into effect in January 2022 changes how your veterinary practitioner can approach prescribing antimicrobial dry cow therapy. This is to ensure the continued effectiveness of antibiotics and to reduce the development of resistance.
A blanket approach to drying off is no longer permitted, instead your veterinary practitioner must adopt a selective approach to dry cow therapy when prescribing dry cow mastitis tubes for your herd. With a selective approach, all cows are considered individually in terms of the risk of mastitis over the dry period. Your veterinary practitioner will determine if a dry cow tube is needed at drying off, in some cows an internal teat sealant alone will be sufficient. A selective approach involves doing a risk assessment at the individual animal level to determine which cows will need antimicrobial treatment over the dry period.
Dry cow tubes can be prescribed but on an individual cow basis where there is evidence of a risk of infection in that cow. Your veterinary practitioner needs individual cow information to assess the risk of infection to the individual cows in your herd. Information includes:
• Records of all mastitis cases
• Previous treatments and related outcomes
• Any milk quality data including somatic cell counts, bacterial culture and antibiotic susceptibility testing
Milk recording is recommended as a key tool to better inform the development of a targeted dry cow mastitis control strategy. Your practitioner may also need to examine the cows and do further tests. To ensure an effective approach to mastitis control, a selective dry-cow strategy for your herd must be worked out carefully, hence the importance of engaging in good time with your veterinary practitioner when making farm-level decisions.
Frequently Asked Questions in Relation to Dry Cow Therapy
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Animal Health Ireland:
Animal Health Ireland issued guidelines for Veterinary practitioners on prudent prescribing of dry cow and in lactation antibiotics
Guidance is available from the Veterinary Council of Ireland Code of Professional Conduct:
The European Medicines Agency:
DAFM AMR Webpage:
A Code of Good Practice regarding the Responsible Use of Antimicrobials on Dairy Farms has been developed by farming and veterinary stakeholders of the INAP Animal Health Committee and is available here:
Here are a series of videos recorded as part of a series of Cellcheck On Farm events which took place in October 2022 to guide farmers in a best practice approach to drying off cows.
1. Practical Demonstrations on How to Dry Off Cows - Don Crowley, Teagasc
2. Regulatory Changes to Dry Cow Therapy in 2022 – Caroline Garvan, DAFM
3. Managing the Cow Around Drying Off – Leonard Betts, Teagasc
4. Selective Dry Cow Therapy – Willie Buckley Veterinary Practitioner