Farms.com Home   News

Short Dry Periods Don’t Affect Milk Quality

By Jim Dickrell
 
 
With increasing milk production levels and more persistent lactation curves, some dairy farmers are opting to dry cows off later and shortening dry periods.
 
The question then arises: If the majority of new mastitis infections occur during the dry period, will milk quality suffer when the cow calves and starts her next lactation? “Dry period length has no effect on the risk of new udder infections,” says Albert DeVries, a University of Florida dairy specialist.
 
“Increased milk yield at dry off has been linked to an increased risk of new udder infections in the dry period and at calving, mainly because of increased risk of leaking milk and pressure in the udder,” he says. “This link supports a short dry period.”
 
Pornpamol Pattamanont , a colleague of DeVries, adds there are no reports that shorter dry periods increase mastitis incidence in the next lactation. 
Click here to see more...

Trending Video

Swine Industry Advances: Biodigesters Lower Emissions and Increase Profits

Video: Swine Industry Advances: Biodigesters Lower Emissions and Increase Profits

Analysis of greenhouse gas (GHG emissions) in the Canadian swine sector found that CH4 emissions from manure were the largest contributor to the overall emissions, followed by emissions from energy use and crop production.

This innovative project, "Improving Swine Manure-Digestate Management Practices Towards Carbon Neutrality With Net Zero Emission Concepts," from Dr. Rajinikanth Rajagopal, under Swine Cluster 4, seeks to develop strategies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

While the management of manure can be very demanding and expensive for swine operations, it can also be viewed as an opportunity for GHG mitigation, as manure storage is an emission source built and managed by swine producers. Moreover, the majority of CH4 emissions from manure occur during a short period of time in the summer, which can potentially be mitigated with targeted intervention.

In tandem with understanding baseline emissions, Dr. Rajagopal's work focuses on evaluating emission mitigation options. Manure additives have the potential of reducing manure methane emissions. Additives can be deployed relatively quickly, enabling near-term emission reductions while biodigesters are being built. Furthermore, additives can be a long-term solution at farms where biogas is not feasible (e.g., when it’s too far from a central digester). Similarly, after biodigestion, additives can also be used to further reduce emissions from storage to minimize the carbon intensity of the bioenergy.