Dry period and udder health

The dry period influences decisively udder health in the following lactation. There are high chances during dry period for cure of existing intramammary infections as well as for development of new intramammary infections. Therefore strategic dry period management on herd level has to follow analyses of cure and new infection rate. Dependent on the situation on a specific farm, the primary goal should either be to reduce new infection rate by minimizing the impact of specific risk factors, to maximize cure rate by augmented antibiotic dry cow therapy or to minimize usage of antibiotic dry cow therapy keeping a high cure rate. The present review article describes the most important risk factors for new intramammary infections during dry period, practical approaches to improve cure rate, and explains how to develop farm specific goals.