Many farms run freshly calved and colostrum cows as a separate herd during the calving period. Whilst this has lots of advantages, there are also some inherent risks.

One risk commonly emerges is the use of a “fresh cow paddock” close to the dairy during calving.

Early in the calving period, this area is often relatively clean, but it progressively becomes more and more contaminated - especially in areas around hay feeders, etc.

Strep uberis is the most comon cause of mastitis after calving, and faecal contamination is the major risk factor for Strep uberis!

Your freshly calved cows are your highest risk cows for mastitis – don’t put them in the highest risk paddock!!

With a little planning of how to best manage these areas, and the preparation of alternative areas to use if they become too contaminated, the risk of mastitis can be greatly reduced.

Always remember that once cows become infected after calving, they often remain infected for the rest of the lactation – prevention has got to be a better bet!

Many farms are running the freshly calved and colostrum cows as a separate herd during the calving period. Whilst this has lots of advantages, there are also some inherent risks.

One risk that has commonly emerged is the use of a "fresh cow paddock" close to the dairy during calving. Early in the calving period, this area is relatively clean, but it then progressively becomes more and more contaminated, and especially in areas around hay feeders, etc.

Strep uberis is the most comon cause of mastitis after calving and faecal contamination is the major risk factor for Strep uberis!

Your freshly calved cows are your highest risk cows for mastitis – don't put them in the highest risk paddock!!

With a little planning of how to best manage these areas, and the preparation of alternative areas to use if they become too contaminated, the risk of mastitis can be greatly reduced.

Also consider the order that herds are milked – don't milk the fresh cows after the hospital herd!

In some cases the fresh cows and the hospital cows are run as a single herd. Possibly the biggest risk here is if the number of cows in this herd exceeds the number of milking units on the platform, potentially exposing freshly calved cows to being milked with a cluster that has just come off a mastitis cow!

Either separate the mastitis cows and milk them last, or have a strict post-milking cluster disinfection procedure to manage this risk.

Always remember that once cows become infected after calving, they often remain infected for the rest of the lactation – prevention has got to be a better bet!