The GAEC de la Laitière manages the udder health of its herd in a different way with AHV solutions.
The dairy farm has 3 partners and one employee with 150 conventionally milked dairy cows and a fattening pig farm (400 places). The arrival of AHV programmes on the farm has enabled them to change the way they manage herd health, particularly udder health.
“We came across AHV at a time when we were looking for alternative methods, so we decided to give it a try.”
“What attracted me to the AHV concept was the ability to minimise the difference between milk produced and milk delivered.” Today, after more than a year of using AHV Solutions (since November 2020), Jean-Luc Morel confides that this gap has indeed been significantly reduced, which allows them to minimize their production costs.
100% Udder health management with AHV Solutions
Since November 2020, the breeders have only used AHV Solutions to manage udder health. They are proud of this because they have a real desire to produce quality milk.
“Even if there is a big udder problem, we only manage it with the AHV programme and it works very well, I am convinced.”
Drying management is also done with AHV Solutions.
The implementation of the udder programme on the farm
In order to set up the AHV programmes there are two approaches, the first is to use milk recording results. As soon as the indicator rises, they administer an AHV Extra Tablet in order to clean the udder and avoid any further problems.
The second approach is to rely on the cow’s signs but also the appearance of the milk, and in these cases they use the full udder programme.
“And when we give the Tablet to the cows, it is a win-win because the milk goes straight to the tank.”
The results are monitored with Clement, the AHV advisor, who regularly visits the farm to find out which cows have received AHV Tablets and the results. It’s a whole new way of managing the health of the herd, so the guidance helps to optimise the results.
“Before, when I went away at the weekend, I was stressed about whether an ankle strap would come off before milking and the tank would be downgraded. Now we don’t need ankle straps because we only use AHV Solutions. That gives me peace of mind. They are reliable products that are up to date for consumers.
AHV advisor Clément Robichon says: “The udder programme allows you to fully clean the udder in depth.
By administering AHV Tablets, the biofilm in the udder will break down and the animal’s immune system will become active again and neutralise the bacteria that were present in the biofilm.