Choosing the right teat dip for your farm can be an overwhelming process. There are several germicides in varying concentrations available in the market today. When choosing a teat dip, however, it is important to remember the dip’s most important job: killing organisms that can cause mastitis.

We have been talking a lot about teat dip lately. Recently, I have covered the basic chemistry behind it, the types of germicides, and the other ingredients and what they do. What we haven’t spoken about is who is making the dip and how it is being made. Why are we paying so much attention to this aspect? Because it is just as important as what is in the dip. Manufacturing facilities and standard operating procedures can make all the difference when we are making teat dip.

Imagine this scenario: You produce high-quality milk. You take pride in receiving your quality premiums for low preliminary incubation (PI) counts. Your system is clean, you use high-quality chemicals in the right amounts, and you check that your wash cycles are running correctly on a regular basis.

Choosing a liner is a complex and difficult task – and an extremely important one. Liners have a huge impact on teat-end health as well as parlor efficiency. Often a particular liner is settled on by a trial-and-error process. With so many liner designs and choices, this process can be quite lengthy. I will attempt to describe the most popular types of liners available.

Often, we hear things like, “Perhaps you should change your treatment; maybe the ‘bugs’ on your farm are building up a resistance to what you are using.” I’ve heard arguments that this could happen and arguments that this is not a concern for dairy farmers. But has anyone ever suggested this about teat dip disinfectants? I don’t think I’ve heard that discussion too many times, if ever.

Teat dips are complex chemical formulas and all the ingredients hang in a delicate balance. The correct amounts of each ingredient are important to keep the teat dip stable, effective and safe to use on your cows’ teats. In my article, which can be found by clicking here, I discussed popular germicides often found in teat dips. Germicides, however, are just one aspect of teat dip chemistry. There are many other aspects to formulating a good teat dip.