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.