TASAH Dry Cow Consult

The CellCheck programme have just announced a new free consultation service is service being made available to farmers just in time for this seasons’ drying off time. This is a consultation specifically around drying off strategies and mastitis and SCC control, between trained veterinary practitioners and their individual clients, and this is now available as part of the Targeted Advisory Service on Animal Health (TASAH). It is free of charge to farmers and is funded through the Rural Development Plan 2014-2020.

The purpose of the TASAH Dry Cow Consult is to enable farmers to engage with their vet to develop farm-specific selective dry cow strategies, where appropriate. Milk recording results and farm records will be reviewed, as well as current practices when drying off cows, to help develop and plan the correct strategy for an individual farm. What it will involve is a specific one-on-one on farm consultation between a farmer and a TASAH trained vet who will specifically review the drying off strategy and SCC data for the farm.

Nationwide, an up to date list of TASAH trained vets is available on the AHI website. This service will be particularly beneficial for farmers who are starting to use selective dry cow therapy in their herds.

REGISTRATION
To register you must go online on the AHI website where you will find the registration link and full details of how to apply for your consultation and what the conditions are for eligibility. Applicants have the option of registering online, or downloading a registration form and returning it to the AHI office by post or by email.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
To maximise the positive outcomes from this initiative, the service will be made available to herds that already have the necessary information and records to support decision-making and planning.
To be considered eligible for the free service farmers must meet the following criteria:

• Bulk milk tank SCC is consistently <200,000 cells/mL
• At least 4 whole herd milk recordings in 2018
• The last milk recording is no older than 6 weeks at the time of registration
• HerdPlus member.

Farmers availing of the TASAH service will also be expected to adopt the following practices:

• Record the date of drying off and product used for all cows at the end of the 2018 lactation
• Commence milk recording within the first 2 months of the 2019 lactation
• Following the consult, record any clinical mastitis cases thereafter on ICBF, by SMS or the Animal Events page

More information, including further detail on eligibility criteria and registration forms, is available on animalhealthireland.ie. Applicants have the option of registering online, or downloading a registration form and returning it to the AHI office by post or by email. This is a new, fully-funded service being promoted by the CellCheck Programme in partnership with Teagasc and individual co-ops.

Bearing in mind that time is of the essence for this dry period so suppliers are encouraged to register as soon as possible for their free TASAH consultation! All applications, which are then subject to assessment for eligibility, must be received by the AHI office by November 30th. All consults, including the uploading of related documentation by the veterinary practitioner, must be completed by December 31st 2018. Further information is available from Animal Health Ireland online or at 071 9671928

First Published 6 November 2018