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Selective dry cow therapy: Antimicrobial stewardship can offer returns in appropriate herds

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Abstract

A recent multi-site clinical trial by our group found that two selective dry cow therapy (SDCT) programs each used 55 percent less antibiotics at dry-off than blanket dry cow therapy (BDCT) without negatively affecting udder health in the next lactation. The first strategy involved use of microbiological culture to identify and treat any quarter-level infection at dry-off (“culture-guided SDCT”). The second used a computer-automated data-driven algorithm to select and treat only cows that were “high-risk” for infection at or after dry-off (“algorithm-guided SDCT”). Both strategies require necessary tools: an onsite laboratory with an incubator and consumables such as bacterial growth media, gloves, and inoculation swabs for culture-guided SDCT. Monthly individual-cow somatic cell counts and mastitis event data is necessary for algorithm-guided SDCT. Additionally, both strategies incur labor costs. Both require a small amount of time at dry-off to sort cows into those that will receive antimicrobial therapy and those that will not. Culture-based SDCT requires additional time prior to dry-off to sort cows and retrieve quarter-level milk samples, and to inoculate and read culture plates. The potential of SDCT to improve antimicrobial stewardship without negative cow or quarter-level impacts are certainly drivers for producers to select either of these strategies. Yet survey data in the U.S. indicates that most producers elect to use BDCT at dry-off. Could the extra labor costs or uncertainty around negative impacts create worry around the economic viability of the practice? Our group aimed to determine the net economic impact of these strategies at the herd level.

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2021-07

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Progressive Dairy

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dairy; manager; dry; cow; therapy

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