DRY COW ANTIBIOTICS

A change in minimum standards

By: Jevan Eady, Large Animal Veterinarian

 

This year we have been made aware of an up-and coming change in the way that we as vets can prescribe Dry Cow Antibiotics. These changes are a long time coming and should not come as too much of a surprise to anyone reading this. They have been put forward by our governing body, The New Zealand Veterinary Council, and have been driven by a long-term global industry drive to reduce the unnecessary and unjust use of antibiotics to preserve their usefulness into the future.

IMPORTANT TAKEAWAYS:

  • There is no change to how we prescribe dry cow antibiotics for the current season.

  • The changes coming into effect from January 2027 are based on considerable irrefutable scientific evidence and real-life practical application of the selective dry cow methodology in New Zealand farms over many numbers of years.

Herds where whole herd antibiotic dry cow treatment (DCT) may be justified

Measure of Infection

  1. Bulk milk SCC -

    Criteria: Arithmetic mean bulk milk SCC until end of 7th month of lactation >200,000 cells/m/L (Equivalent to whole season bulk milk SCC above 250,000 cells/mL)

  2. Indication of significant change in prevalance of infection during late lactation

    Criteria: Arithmetic mean monthly bulk milk SCC has increased by >40,000 cells/mL between the 6th and 7th month of lactation. (Equivalent to arithmetic mean monthly bulk milk SCC increases across last 3 months of lactation by >50,000 cells/mL)

Table 3 - DairyNZTechnote 14

Further reading on the justification for these minimum standards can be found in Dairy NZ Technote 14

From 1st January 2027 our minimum standards read as:

  • Based on these criteria (set out in technote 14), veterinarians must only authorise whole herd DCAT as part of an udder health programme to manage animal welfare in herds with a high and increasing risk of infection.

  • Veterinarians must review the infection status in a herd and be able to justify their decision to authorise whole herd DCAT based on technote 14

This comes as a timely reminder to get all your ducks in a row for the current dry off season, which is just around the corner! Schedule a time for this seasons’ milk quality consult with your primary vet; this must be completed before dry off products can be prescribed for your animals.

 
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