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Teat-sealing heifers
The ideal time to teat-seal heifers is six weeks before calving due date. For most February-calving heifers, this means they should be done by now.
The reason for teat-sealing is to prevent infection before calving. The teat seal acts as a physical barrier to bacteria entering the udder.
Whether you need to teat-seal heifers largely depends on historical incidences of mastitis in first calvers.
If you get very few cases of mastitis in first calvers in the first month or six weeks after calving, there will be no benefit from teat sealing.
But in herds where there are high levels of mastitis, (over 10%) there should be an advantage, presuming that the infection is occurring in the pre-calving period.
Research in Moorepark has shown that a lot of the mastitis in early lactation is due to pre-calving infections.
Heifers housed in more challenging conditions are more at risk of infection, eg slats and stand-off pads. Heifers are more at risk of infection anyway as they bag up over a longer period and often drip milk for longer before calving.
When administering teat sealer, make sure you do it safely. You need plenty of help around. Many hoof parers are now offering the service with turnover crates.
Make sure the person doing it knows how to do it properly. Hygiene is key, otherwise mastitis rates will be worse.
Roadways
I was talking to a few quarry men during the week and they are all busy drawing stone to farms for use on farm roadways. There are a couple of points to note when making farm roadways.
Firstly, use the right stone.
Limestone is out. Broken limestone will always have sharp edges. Sandstone or slig type material is best. This breaks down over time and creates a smooth surface.
The next thing is the slope. Roadways should slope to both sides. One side is OK in certain circumstances, eg on the side of a hill.
The ideal camber is a 3% to 5% slope from the centre. Cambers greater than 8% should be avoided as they are too steep.
Measure the height of the centre of the road from the edge using a timber and spirit level and divide this into the distance from the centre to the edge to work out the camber.
It’s a good time of year to strip back the sides of roadways to maintain the width and let water run-off.
Christmas
Dairy farms, especially where winter milk is produced, will still be busy over Christmas.
Take as much time off as possible by only doing the essentials over the key days such as milking, feeding and herding.
Where staff are employed do up a roster and give employees more time off than yourself.
As the business owner, it’s probably fair that you should put in more effort to keep the show on the road. It sends a good signal to employees that you value their time but also their time off.
It’s been a good year to be a dairy farmer in Ireland. Milk price was high and more grass was grown. Make time over the next week to relax with family and friends. We work to live. Happy Christmas.
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