Your treatment protocols in DeLaval DelPro™
When you first start working with DelPro FarmManager you will find within the health section pre-populated animal health diagnoses. You can get to immediately working with these ones, or you can customize the diagnosis to farm specific treatment protocols. In this article you’ll learn how to manage health events in DelPro. If you want to make recording simple and fast, spoiler alert; your diagnosis can be linked to treatment protocols with specific drugs for the most efficient and accurate record keeping – once set, you can also do this through DelPro Companion. First things first, let’s start with the basics.
Add new drugs
Before being able to link drugs to a treatment protocol, all the drugs used on farm should be registered in DelPro FarmManager. You find this menu within the health module and “Drugs” window. It is important to note that the withhold periods are recorded accurately! This will affect the dump milk period – defined in the animal status tab in the animal card for parlour and rotary milking systems; and in the AMS settings tab for robotic milking systems. Make sure that the drugs are active whilst in use. Great news also is that all drugs marked as active (“tick”) in DelPro FarmManager will be available and synchronized with your DelPro Companion!
Add new treatment
Depending on your farm practices, and the prescribed treatment protocols used on your farm by your veterinarian; you can start to populate all protocols in the health menu “Treatments”. For each treatment protocol you can specify which drugs to use, and how frequently. Here you can select from all the drugs you have entered in the previous step, and have currently set as active. If you have a treatment, like a hoof trimming event, it is not mandatory to add drugs to the treatment. Simply create the treatment and leave the drugs field empty.
Make sure to complete all details accurately so when you start recording health events per animal – you only have to select your diagnosis. After a synch with DelPro Companion – all your treatments will be available on your phone, linked to the drugs to be used; you’re in a good place to almost start recording the animal health events!
Add a new diagnosis
By default an extensive list of diseases can be found when you start working with DelPro FarmManager. In addition to these diagnoses farm specific diagnoses can be added. When adding a new diagnosis your ‘recommended’ treatment can be selected, and then multiple treatments, related to this diagnosis can be assigned. This closes the circle from; what disease did I find on the animal to suggested treatment protocol and assigned drugs.
Recording an animal health event
Once the treatment protocols are setup and you now want to add a health event you will firstly select the diagnosis for a cow; the reccomended treatment will be selected (assigned to this diagnosis), and a drug will automatically apprear. This also means that the withold settings for the drug will be applied and DelPro knows how long to “dump” the milk.
Under Animal Status in the cow card you will be able to see; How many days to “dump milk” and How many days to “treat cow”. Under the AMS Settings – milking settings for robotic farms, you can find the milk destination, and divert milk period; as a result of the drugs properties.
When you have treated a number of animals for the same diganosis, with the same treatment; you can through the “Batch Entry Mode” in both DelPro FarmManager and DelPro Companion add the health event to all selected animal at once. Making it even more efficient to report back your actions!
Good to know that; when you are adding a health event for the animal following the above steps; from adding diagnosis, treatment and drugs all steps are completed whilst working with the animal event. Great for when a new treatment is prerscibed by the veterinarian with different drugs; you don’t have to add it one step at a time – all can be completed at once.
A complete overview on treated animals
The report “Ongoing treatments” will give you information for animals that are currently undergoing a treatment, with treatment days and milk withhold days remaining. When a treatment is finished, but an animal has still an active withhold period for meat, you will be able to find those cows on the “Ongoing treatments with meat wait” report. Good to know, and a piece of mind that when you decide to cull an animal with active meat withhold days, DelPro FarmManager will inform you of the active withhold period, so you can prevent this animal from being sent to the slaughter house too soon; securing food safety!
A complete historical overview of all health events of all animals, for all diagnosis can be found through the herd event list. Access this window by clicking on animal – “Herd event list”.
One last important NOTE: If you have treated a cow ONE day LONGER than normal practice and recorded in DelPro, make sure you update also the treatment info in the animal card, and verify the animal status or AMS settings for dump milk.