Options available to dairymen to lower teat dip costs

COLUMBIA, Md. — One way for dairymen to impact the profitability of their operation is to choose teat dips that perform equal or better than iodine at a lower cost.

“The marketplace has changed a lot with iodine rising over 80% in the last year,” said Keith Engel, business development manager in hygiene for GEA.

“The majority of the world’s iodine comes from Chile, the second most comes from Japan,” he said during a webinar hosted by Hoard’s Dairyman. U.S. iodine production ranks third.

In addition to iodine, Engel said, several other costs have also increased significantly.

“Glycerin has gone up over four times, propylene glycol is up three times, bleach that goes into sanitizers has gone up more than 50% and packaging costs have more than doubled,” Engel said.

“With iodine and transportation costs, we’re really focused on new products so dairymen have effective non-iodine teat dip options,” he said. “But it’s hard to stray away from what you know works.”

Developing new products is not a quick process, said Mark Heald, GEA east account manager.

“We take our time to ensure everything is ready before we release it to the market,” he said. “When we come up with an initial concept for a product, we take data from the field to make sure there’s a need for that product to fill a void.”

For any new product, Heald said, GEA exams from two to 50 formulas.

“We look at things like product stability, efficacy of the product and challenge testing,” Heald said.

“From there, we go to stability testing where we do freeze/thaw stability up to three cycles and real time at room temperature to make sure we have a shelf-stable product,” he said.

During production testing, GEA makes sure the formula works in real life.

“If there are no hiccups along the way, the process takes at a minimum of one year,” Heald said.

For challenge testing, the standard testing for pre-dip is 30-second contact time.

“We take it a step further and do a 15-second contact time,” Heald said.

“Once we pass all the testings, then we do on-farm testing and validation with an eight- to 12-week trial on a farm,” he said. “We look at teat skin conditioning scoring and milk quality numbers.”

In addition, the researchers validate teat dip coverage, milking procedures, weather conditions and the overall environment, as well as milk quality data before, during and after the test.

“We update the R&D team throughout the test and identify any issues early on in the process,” Heald said. “If at any point during the process, a product fails we go back to the drawing board and start over.”

GEA has several non-iodine teat dip options that are pre-dip only, pre- and post-dip and post-dip only.

“I am really excited about Kommand which is a pre- and post-dip that is a 1 to 9 solution,” Engle said. “And the shelf life is 30 days after mixing.”

Velocity Gold Barrier is a post-dip only, low-drip barrier.

“It gives extra protection between milkings in less than ideal conditions,” Heald said. “It is bright yellow so you get good visible confirmation of properly dipped teats.”

The power of concentrates is there are fewer deliveries, as well as blending adjustability to meet the needs of dairymen.

“With less packaging, there’s a cost savings and it’s also more environmentally friendly,” Engel said.

“Dairymen can mix teat-dip products on demand so they have fresh product and flexibility,” he said. “Many formulations are available with different germicides and we offer something for herds of just about any size.”

In addition, Engel said, “GEA has a 100% satisfaction guarantee on its teat dips.”

Since labor is an issue on many dairy farms, partial automatic technologies can help dairymen address labor challenges.

“They deliver consistency and efficiency,” he said. “And they can be incorporated in existing facilities regardless of the brand in the milking parlor.”

One example is the Futurecow Prep System.

“You get multiple procedures done in one step to streamline the prep,” Engel said. “It gives you greater consistency for cleaning the teat end which leads to better teat end health.”

Another option is the Stepover Spray System which is an automated sprayer that can be put at the entry or exit of a parlor.

“It can easily be installed in an existing parlor,” Engel said.

The Udder Mister is for rotary parlors and it automatically pre- or post-dips a cow.

“There are both single-arm and double-arm systems,” Engel said. “The technology knows where the cow is at so it won’t dip an empty stall.”

“Labor is the most controllable expense in a business,” Heald said. “With partial automation, you can lower your labor cost.”

For more information about GEA products, go to www.gea.com.