Customising dry period management: consequences for milk yield, body condition and disease incidence

Advantages of shortening and omitting of the dry period are an improved energy balance and metabolic status in early lactation and potentially also an improved fertility (Van Knegsel et al., 2013). Disadvantages, however, are a reduction in milk yield in the subsequent lactation, loss of opportunity for selective dry cow therapy (DCT) and, in case of omitting of the dry period, reduction in concentration of antibodies in colostrum. Moreover, response of dairy cows to different dry period lengths was related to individual cow characteristics, like parity (Annen et al., 2004), milk yield level or SCC level (Van Hoeij et al., 2016). Therefore, it can be hypothesized that customising dry period management for individual cows could mitigate negative impacts of shortening and omitting the dry period on milk production and udder health, and at the same time retain benefits from both a dry period as well as benefits from a short or no dry period. In this study, we aimed to evaluate two decision trees to customize dry period length and selective DCT based on parity, milk production and SCC in late lactation.