Dry-off treatment of Assaf sheep: Efficacy as a management tool for improving milk quantity and quality

Abstract Dry-off treatment of Assaf sheep by means of cow dry therapy tubes was tested. The sheep were treated 60 days before parturition by injection of a whole tube of cow dry treatment into each udder half. The sheep were tested for bacterial status before and after the treatment, to assess the success of the dry-off treatment, and were tested again at the end of colostrum milking to detect inhibiting substances in the milk. The treatment proved to be successful: bacterial infection decreased from about 60 to about 20%, and the somatic cell count in the bulk tank milk fell from about 2500 × 10 3 to less than 1000 × 10 3  cells mL −1 . Concomitantly, the average milk production per ewe increased from 395 to 487 L year −1 .