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Choosing dry cow products

There are a number of dry cow antibiotics that are available and the choice of which one should be used can be difficult.  The products differ in their active ingredients, the dose of antibiotic, the size of antibiotic particles, duration of action, and price.  So which products should be used?

The choice of which product used should be made based on:

• Mastitis history of the farm
• The bacteria that have been isolated, causing infections this season and in the past
• Amount of clinical mastitis experienced during the calving period
• BMCC
• The length of dry period given to cows
  

While many people select the dry cow products based on price, the price difference between the cheapest and the most expensive products is less significant than the cost of additional mastitis cases, or of having a poorer cure rate.  Price really only becomes a consideration when there is little or no difference between products.<p>

Products:

Cepravin Dry Cow:

Best product to use if the bacteria Streptococcus uberis is responsible for a majority of clinical cases or if you get a lot of mastitis at calving (greater than 3 cases per 50 cows calved).  Cows treated with Cepravin DC must have a dry period of 8 weeks or greater.

Orbenin Enduro/Elaclox Extra:

600 mg Cloxacillin products with small antibiotic particle size have the highest reported cure rates for Staphylococcus aureus.    Orbenin Enduro is best used where there are numerous cows with chronic Staph infections, where the BMCC is frequently greater than 250,000 or there are a large number of cows with high cell counts.  Cows treated with Enduro must have a minimum dry period of 35 days.

Orbenin/Elaclox DC:

Contain a lower dose of cloxacillin than Enduro or Elaclox Extra (500mg versus 600mg) and bacteriological cure rates have been reported to be lower than Orbenin Enduro.  Cows Treated with the 500mg cloxacillin products require a minimum dry period of 30 days.