January

• Consider giving long acting Selenium and Copper bullets to calves

• Weigh Calves (consider Growright)

• Continue with your calf drenching programme

• Calves should start their lepto programme in January or February

• Cows and heifers will need a lepto booster in the next 1-3 months

• Book in early pregnancy testing for foetal ageing 12-15 weeks after the PSM

 

February

• Remove bulls from the dairy platform when mating finishes

• Calves should start their lepto programme if not already started

• Cows and heifers will need a lepto booster in the next 1-2 months

• Body Condition Score your herd

• Weigh Calves (consider Growright)

• Monitor calves for polio/PEM – signs include blindness, staggering, and stargazing

• Heifer PD’s can start 6 weeks after bull removal

• Update your MINDA records with your clinical mastitis cases

 

March 

• Dry off cows with a BCS of 3.0 or lower at the start of the month

• Arrange a herd test to assist in culling and dry cow therapy decisions

• Restart magnesium supplementation to prevent Autumn metabolics

• Monitor herd for bloat

• Final PD to identify late calving cows, inductions, and empties

• Book an InCalf consult with your prime vet to review your reproductive performance following your final PD

• Clearly mark and identify any cows that are dried off early with dry cow therapy

• Consider combination therapy (antibiotic + teatseal) in early dried off cows

 

April

• Dry off cows with a BCS of 3.5 or lower at the start of the month

• Body Condition Score your herd and plan for strategic early dry-off of light cows, to ensure cows can reach their calving targets

• Final lepto boosters for calves if not already completed

• Consider a second whole herd PD to detect foetal loss before winter

• Dry off cows with high SCC or producing less than 5L per day

• Record all clinical mastitis cases into MINDA in preparation for your Annual Mastitis Review

• Book in Annual Mastitis Review with your prime vet

• Consider pre-dryoff cow drench

 

May 

• Dry off cows with a BCS of 4.0 or lower at the start of the month

• Heifers can be teatsealed from May onwards

• Weigh calves to ensure they are on target (consider Growright)

• Consider a late whole herd PD to detect foetal loss before winter

• Consider salmonella vaccination (sensitizer) if abortion or cow deaths were an issue last season

• Book in Tracecheck or Optigrow liver biopsies for pre-winter Trace Element monitoring

• Reduce feed intake for the last week of milking

• Body Condition Score your herd before they go to the run-off

 

June

• Get a baseline Body Condition Score done at the start of the wintering period to calculate daily feed requirement/ allocation

• Sort your Rotavec orders, should be administered 3 weeks prior to calving

• Book in your RVM (restricted veterinary medicine) consult with your prime vet

• Consider lice treatment if a pour-on drench was not used pre-dryoff

• Test crops and pasture for nitrate levels monitor cows for signs of toxicity

 

July

• Get a Body Condition Score done at the start of July to monitor condition gain/ wintering programme (calving target = 5.0 - 5.5 for cows and 5.5 – 6.0 for heifers)

• Start Magnesium supplementation 3-4 weeks before the planned start of calving

• Inject cows with selenium 2-4 weeks prior to calving if no selenium administered over the Winter period

• Enrol staff for the Spring Seminar for Workers

• Rotavec should be administered 3 weeks prior to calving

• Weigh calves to evaluate wintering programme (consider Growright)

• A blood test can be performed on 15 yearling calves to determine BVD status of the group

 

August

• Get a Body Condition Score done on your Springer and Dry Cows to assess the success of your wintering programme

• Arrange for a blood test of Colostrum cows as part of the Tracecheck programme to assess transition management and mineral status

• Identify and mark all cows calved before the midpoint and arrange to metricheck this group 2 weeks after the last cow has calved

• A BVD sensitiser needs to be given to unvaccinated heifers, cows, and bulls 8 weeks prior to the start of mating

• Yearlings can be given another shot of long acting selenium to set them up for mating

• Monitor your BMSCC and discuss with your prime vet if rising or grading

• Start calf debudding and give your Covexin (clostridial) sensitiser vaccination

• Avoid grazing effluent paddocks with colostrum and springer cows

 

September

• Tail paint should be applied 35 days before the planned start of mating to identify pre-mating heats

• A BVD booster vaccination should be given 3-5 weeks before the PSM if in a programme

• Metricheck the second half of your herd/ later calving cows 2 weeks after they have calved

• Sign up for the BVD bulk milk monitoring package

• Weigh yearlings prior to the mating period (consider Growright)

• Check cow teat health – greater than 1 in 15 lesions can be indicative of plant or liner issues

• Start calf debudding and give your Covexin (clostridial) sensitiser vaccination

• Arrange for pre-mating bloods to be taken (as part of Tracecheck) to check trace elements levels

• Discuss heifer mating synchrony programmes with your vet, especially if considering a double shot PG programme

• Organise a pre-mate InCalf consult with your prime vet

 

October

• Get a Body Condition Score done on your herd to see if they have reached targets for the PSM (target = 4.5 for cows, 5.0 for heifers)

• Arrange for pre-mating bloods to be taken (as part of Tracecheck) to check trace elements levels

• Industry target is for 75% of your herd to have had a pre-mating heat 10 days before the PSM

• Non-cyclers should be examined/treated before the 10th day of mating to ensure they are mated within the first 3 weeks (should be calved >35 days)

• Consider a PG programme in heifers after 6 days of mating to condense your AI period

• Run light and younger cows separately over the mating period

• Metricheck your late calving cows 2 weeks after the last one has calved

• Train all staff in heat detection and drafting during mating

• Watch for bloat on second round grass

 

November

• Booster vaccinate your calves with Covexin/ clostridial vaccine

• Begin your calf drenching programme

• Examine remaining non-cyclers on day 24-25 of mating

• Weigh your calves (consider Growright)

• Continue to teatspray after every milking for the whole of the season

• Monitor for pink-eye in calves, consider vaccination in at-risk mobs

• Maintain heat detection as a priority for the second 3 weeks (don’t let standards slip)

• Discuss lameness prevention with staff (consider Healthy Hoof)

 

December

• Herds identified with high/toxic copper levels last Autumn should be liver biopsied again in December

• Ensure sufficient bulls to follow up AI. The recommendation is to have 1 bull for every 30 cows not pregnant to AI in the herd at ALL times

• Remove and treat lame bulls, and ensure they are replaced to ensure adequate bull cover

• Early pregnancy testing of non-return cows 35-40 days post-insemination to detect and treat phantom cows

• Remove bulls from heifers after an 8-9 week mating period

• Replace the milking liners

• Drop off milk samples for culture if you are having mastitis issues

• Renew your Leptocred accreditation if required

 

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