Use this week to review your dry-off list, treatment records and feed plan—not just the calendar. Identify cows due to dry off, check their mastitis and somatic-cell history, and agree with your veterinarian on the appropriate approach for each animal. Then make sure staff know what to record and what signs require escalation. The dry period is a management opportunity: nutrition, health and handling need to be considered together, not as separate tasks.
Make dry-off decisions from records
Before dry-off, bring together each cow’s clinical mastitis history, treatment dates and available udder-health records. Accurate diagnosis, appropriate treatment protocols, staff education and complete record-keeping are central to responsible antimicrobial use. Do not use antibiotics as a routine substitute for diagnosis or a veterinarian-led plan. The industry is moving towards more targeted and shorter-duration treatments when antibiotics are necessary.
A useful action this week is to check that treatment and withdrawal information is legible and accessible to everyone who handles the cow or her milk. If a cow’s history is incomplete, flag it for review rather than guessing. The same records can help identify repeated problems and inform changes to management; the MPO has identified milk quality, bacterial counts and somatic cell counts as areas where practical dairy research can support producer income.
Treat transition feeding as health management
Review the ration and feed quality for cows approaching calving and those in early lactation. Transition management requires a comprehensive approach to nutrition, health and management, while gut health depends on diet composition and a comfortable environment. Feed quality, animal health, production efficiency and cost control are linked, so a cheaper ration is not necessarily a saving if it undermines performance or resilience.
The Department of Agriculture’s El Niño-related advice—maintain feed reserves for breeding stock, secure water access and match livestock numbers to available grazing and feed—also matters to dairy herds facing feed or water stress. It recommends regular veterinary inspections, disease surveillance and timely vaccination to reduce livestock losses (The Citizen, “El Niño 2026-27: How agriculture department plans to protect small-scale farmers”). Check your feed reserve and water contingency now, and discuss any material ration change with your nutrition adviser or veterinarian rather than allowing shortages to dictate abrupt changes.
Build a fresh-cow observation routine
Agree on who checks newly calved cows, when checks happen and how observations are recorded. Staff training in disease recognition and protocols can significantly affect herd health and profitability. A simple, consistent reporting route helps a team act on a change in appetite, demeanour or milk output instead of letting an early concern disappear between shifts. Record the observation and the action taken, and involve the veterinarian where signs warrant it.
This is also a good point to refresh the team on hygiene and the farm’s treatment and milking procedures. Responsible antimicrobial use depends on staff education and accurate records, not only on the product selected.
Keep prevention and monitoring connected
Dry-cow and transition planning should sit inside a wider health programme: maintain vaccination according to veterinary advice, monitor for disease, and keep animal-health records current. South Africa’s agriculture department has specifically linked timely vaccination, surveillance and veterinary inspections with reducing livestock losses under climate-related risk (The Citizen). Keep vaccination decisions and schedules with your veterinary adviser; do not infer a protocol from general guidance.
Use the week’s review to identify one repeatable improvement: a complete dry-off record, clearer staff responsibilities, a feed-reserve check or a scheduled review of udder-health trends. Prevention is generally more economical than responding after losses occur, and biosecurity works best as part of an integrated system of prevention, early detection, responsible treatment and trained staff.
Key points
- Review dry-off candidates’ mastitis and treatment histories, and refer uncertain cases to your veterinarian.
- Use accurate diagnosis and records to support targeted antimicrobial decisions—not routine treatment by default.
- Check feed reserves, water access and transition-ration plans before shortages or stress force changes.
- Assign staff to observe and record fresh-cow concerns, with a clear route for veterinary escalation.