DRYING-OFF COWS.

Shannon News, 25 October 1927, Page 3

DRYING-OFF COWS.

ACHIEVED BY SEALING THE UDDER. A well-known English breeder and judge of Jerseys describes in "The Jersey Cow" what he claims as a new system of drying off cows, from which he says he has had very good results. Incidentally, the system is not new in this country, as it has been tried with success on several places; and an experienced Levin farmer, who secures a very high percentage of butter-fat, is convinced of its practicability after putting it to a thorough test, and is now a warm-advocate of the method.

The drying off process, the English writer remarks, is more feared by herdsmen than Jthe risks of calving. All sorts of practices are in vogue —starva- ! tion, keeping short of water, irregular milking, sometimes for a considerable period—often with garget and lost quarters as a result. All this means Mint if a great yielding cow is to calve again anyfwhere near within twelve in on lhs and have the necessary six weeks' rest, the drying-off has to' be prepared for when the cow has been nrlking only nine or ten months, and ohe may still be giving two or three gallons "a day. The new system is to milk and feed and water as usual up bo a couple of days of the time she should be dry, then her concentrates ihould be knocked off, but not twice-a .lay milking-. On the chosen day she should be milked out clean, the teats carefully dried and then a spot of Stockholm tar or cellodium painted over :he orifice and end of each teat. The udder must not on any account be touched again or stripped out, neither should the cow be washed or groomed, and it is a good plan to keep her away from others cows at milking time. By the third day the udder will be greatly distended, with possible discomfort to the cow, but the distension will quickly subside by absorption of tire fluid into the body of the cow, and in about ten days she will be dry. Should any teat leak after sealing up, the whole udder should be stripped out clean and re-seal-ed; this is not often necessary if col- 1 lodium is used and carefully applied in two or three layers. Mr. Budgett, the breeder who tried this experiment, says he has carried out these instructions with his heaviest milking cows and was delighted with the result.- Their adders have come down perfectly before calving, and a great deal of time, ' anxiety and risk of udder trouble has been saved. He suggests that if anyone is doubtful about trying this treatment on their most valuable cows they should subject one or two others to it until they are assured of its success. AN ALTEKNATIVE METHOD.

A dairy farmer who had at one time a farm in Taranaki stated that his method was almost the same as Mr. Budgett describes, except that he did not seal up the teats, and that when the udder became over-extended he eased it by drawing off a little milk from each quarter. He says that a cow may be dried off in this way at any time during her lactation period. It is, of course, advisable to ease off a cow in her feed till the udder goes down. Probably the hardest time to diry off a cow is at the end of spring or beginning of summer when she is beginning to increase her flow of milk and when part milking or milking at irregular times will have little effect in checking the flow. The great majority of cows are,however, dried off before this time so as to be ready for the new factory season. i -