Drying off
- Animal requires dry period to permit udder tissue to repair and rejuvenate.
- This helps prevent the chances of suffering through mastitis.
Reason for drying off (optimum 50-60 days)
- Recoup strain of preceding pregnancy
- Recoup strain of previous parturition
- Recoup stress of previous lactation
- Physiological adjustment
Methods of drying off
a) Sudden stop milking dry off method:
- Feeding low % concentrate mixture before a week of stopping milking.
b) Irregular milking dry off method:
- Animal milked once/day till drying.
c) Incomplete milking dry off method:
- Cow are milked incompletely till drying.