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Mastitis Tip of the Month--Forestripping before or after predipping?
Dairy Pipeline: January 2002
Gerald M. (Jerry) Jones
Extension Dairy Scientist,
Milk Quality & Milking Management
540/231-4764
email: gmjones@vt.edu
Does it make any difference whether you forestrip 3-4 squirts of milk from each teat before or after teat dip has been applied? Probably not! It's more important that you forestrip and not skip this step. Herds that apply dip with a dipper or cup may want to forestrip first and then predip, but it's okay to predip and then forestrip. Make sure teats are clean and dry. Herds that apply teat dip by sprayer may want to apply dip and then forestrip, but I'd wear gloves. You can make sure that you get adequate predip coverage by making 3-4 vertical hand motions, followed by using the thumb and first finger across the teat end several times. These motions of working the teat dip around should minimize the possibility that spraying did not cover the backsides of the teats. Then, prep another 1-2 cows before returning to dry off teats and attach the milking unit. A delay of approximately 30 seconds is desired to give the teat dip ample contact time to kill microorganisms on the external teat skin. By the way, I'm sure that you don't need to be reminded that the towel used to dry teats shouldn't be used on more than one cow. You should not contaminate the clean teat by forestripping after teats have been dried.