These three minerals must be fed in amounts very close to animal requirements to keep the gut absorption mechanisms active. Milk fever will predispose the cow to other serious health problems such as dystocia, prolapsed uterus, retained placenta, uterine infection, and mastitis. Cows developing hard, swollen quarters should be milked out. This will help remove the bacteria and toxins responsible for the inflammation. Approximately half of all new mastitis infections occur in the early dry period.
Cows are also particularly susceptible to new infections when milk is present in the udder.
Therefore, it is important to keep dry cows in clean corrals or pastures especially close to calving. Dry-cow therapy is an important component of a mastitis control program because it reduces the number of persistent udder infections and new dry period infections. It is most beneficial if all four quarters of all cows undergo treatment at the end of each lactation. If the herd level of contagious mastitis is low, the producer and the veterinarian may consider treating only cows that have a record of mastitis infection or high somatic cell counts. Dry-cow therapy has several advantages over treatment of mastitis during lactation.