Is teat sealant worth it ?

[More to life]

Currently drying cows off in the 20-25 kg range they never leak milk. Change of diet and being away from the parlour also helps.

 

[Green Grass]

Could you add to the poll
"don't bother with sealant"
We do but be interesting to see.

 

[jerseycowsman]

After drying off 50 cows on Tuesday all with sealant and/or antibiotics that would have been averaging no more than 10L i am yet again frustrated with the amount of milk leakage
Makes me wonder if sealant is actually necessary

I get the same thing and ask myself the same question

 

[jerseycowsman]

Iv stopped using it, only effect I'm finding is no vet bill for it. Honestly no Scc difference, better udder health if any thing.

Just stop milking them? Do you still use antibiotics in high scc ones?

 

[Whitewalker]

I’m asking myself the same question, sub 10 litres if possible at dry off . Someone had a bright idea to antibiotic tube every cow at dry off now it’s not recommended if possible, was teat sealing similar idea that really isn’t needed for lower yield dry cows. It’s yet another possible bill that’s irrelevant to have .

 

[jimmer]

Why only use half a tube? Penny wise pound foolish.

Little xbreeds teats
Training tells you to only put in what teat canal will take

 

[jimmer]

I’m asking myself the same question, sub 10 litres if possible at dry off . Someone had a bright idea to antibiotic tube every cow at dry off now it’s not recommended if possible, was teat sealing similar idea that really isn’t needed for lower yield dry cows. It’s yet another possible bill that’s irrelevant to have .

This is mostly the point of the thread, is it necessary?
Went to Ireland to buy cows asked farmer what they were dried off with
"aaah nuw thittl be teelin yee boot new treatmint we're tryn"

 

[Whitewalker]

This is mostly the point of the thread, is it necessary?
Went to Ireland to buy cows asked farmer what they were dried off with
"aaah nuw thittl be teelin yee boot new treatmint we're tryn"

I’d be seriously tempted to try some without that are low cellcounts. I’d also ask when a cow lies down can 500kg on a little teat push the sealer into the udder anyway. We always pinch the top of the teat yet some strip out sealer months later.

 

[jimmer]

I’d be seriously tempted to try some without that are low cellcounts. I’d also ask when a cow lies down can 500kg on a little teat push the sealer into the udder anyway. We always pinch the top of the teat yet some strip out sealer months later.

If I were to dry off onto fresh pasture I'd do it no issues

 

[Jdunn55]

This is mostly the point of the thread, is it necessary?
Went to Ireland to buy cows asked farmer what they were dried off with
"aaah nuw thittl be teelin yee boot new treatmint we're tryn"

I know I'm the new kid on the block but to be honest with you if I were you, I wouldn't bother doing it as you haven't been sealing them anyway (all the sealant will just be floating around in the udder somewhere - especially as you say nothing comes out when you strip them freshly calved) and they've been fine,

either way I definitely wouldn't carry on as you are as if you're supplying a cheese manufacturer they wouldn't be very happy with the black mold sealant creates in cheese

 

[Whitewalker]

@onesiedale do you teat seal ?

 

[jimmer]

I know I'm the new kid on the block but to be honest with you if I were you, I wouldn't bother doing it as you haven't been sealing them anyway (all the sealant will just be floating around in the udder somewhere - especially as you say nothing comes out when you strip them freshly calved) and they've been fine,

either way I definitely wouldn't carry on as you are as if you're supplying a cheese manufacturer they wouldn't be very happy with the black mold sealant creates in cheese

All sealant is either easily stripped out on first milking or consumed by the calf
We do not get sealant in milk subsequent days after first milking, none in the filter and none stripped out for days/months after

You may not be doing it on all cows but if your putting 2 tubes of sealant in some individual teats I would suggest you are the one going to cause contamination of milk more than me
I cannot prove it, nor can most others without a pm on a freshly dried off cow but I would put a lot of money on my half tube method causing less to contaminate udder tissues than many other techniques

 

[lazy farmer]

Your milk contract states you get trained properly or don't use it.
It is bad for cheese, and that's why we need to follow the training given. It should not enter the udder.
We get no milk leakage, it's operator error.

Pinch the top, fill teat and let the "build up" come out the teat.

Just curious. how would you know?

 

[Beef farmer]

Just curious. how would you know?

How would I know what?.

 

[Headless chicken]

I tend to use teat sealant more for fly protection than anything else but have often wondered. My type of cow coming up to dry off time doesn’t want to be milked anyway. Take them away from the routine and they just dry themselves up.

I guess the question is how much more damage do we do by putting something up there than just leaving them be?

 

[onesiedale]

@onesiedale do you teat seal ?

No

 

[Whitewalker]

No

I thought as much

 

[In the pit]

I’ve found the test seals over the last few years are not what they used to be in the beginning
The test seals years ago were as thick as toothpaste and required a lot of effort to get them to unplug the test end, calves used to suck like mad and seal would still be intact
These days it’s a lot more liquid and doesn’t hold in the same
A lot of my cows at calving had test seal gone in 2 out of the 4 quarters and a lot of these hadn’t been sucked by calves and there was only me who put the seals in so I know it was done right
Used to use boviseal but no use cepralock

 

[lazy farmer]

How would I know what?.

If you had leaking milk.

 

[Surface Tension]

I tend to use teat sealant more for fly protection than anything else but have often wondered. My type of cow coming up to dry off time doesn’t want to be milked anyway. Take them away from the routine and they just dry themselves up.

We've gradually shifted from A/B everything at drying off to 5% A/B (SCC over 200 only) and everything else teat sealant over a 3 year period. Only really started using the teat sealant to stop losing quarters in dry cows late summer due to flies. Previous year had 5-6 cows with summer mastitis and last year with teat sealant didn't lose any. Didn't notice any difference last year from cutting out A/B so just started using teat sealant instead.

I'm thinking this year just using teat sealant when flies are a problem and only other treatment A/B tubes over 200 SCC.