Internal teat sealant change delivers cost savings without compromising results or animal health

James Stewart’s goals for drying-off are to reduce Somatic Cell Count and clinical mastitis and he says “from the results I have seen over the years, I am sold on using an internal teat sealant to prevent mastitis”.

“As a farm we want to reduce our SCC and Shutout has been a great partner in that process, and we will continue to use it. “

Situated in the Manawatu, James and his team milk 800 cows split into two herds across two farms. As a seasonal dairy farming operation, they milk for around 300 days of the year and dry-off in May. At dry-off, they select cows for dry cow treatments based on the SAMM plan recommendations. The infected cows (approx. 25%) receive a dry cow antibiotic and internal teat sealant (ITS) while the rest of the herd get an ITS only. Dry-off treatments are administered by the farm team and vet technicians.

In 2023, James changed his ITS to ShutOut®. The decision was made when he learned from his vet that there was a quality, cost-effective alternative. “I don’t mind giving things a go; farming is always changing. My only concern was whether it would be as good as our previous ITS; Shutout didn’t let us down and certainly met expectations”.

James indicated the winter of 2023 was especially wet and challenging. “We had some very wet conditions. The bulk of our cows were calving on feed pads and wet paddocks in very bad conditions. However thanks to using an internal teat sealant our spring results have been really good. There was no winter mastitis, less mastitis at calving and the SCC was down from last year”.

AVAILABLE ONLY UNDER VETERINARY AUTHORISATION. ACVM No’s: A011866. Schering-Plough Animal Health Ltd. Ph: 0800 800 543. www.msd-animal-health.co.nz © 2023 Intervet International B.V. All Rights Reserved. NZ-SOT-231000001.