AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich is joined by current AABP Vice President Dr. Michael Capel at the 5th AABP Recent Graduate Conference in New Orleans to discuss implementation of selective dry cow therapy on dairy farms. Capel states that nationally, mastitis treatment and prevention accounts for about 60% of antibiotic use on dairy farms and of this, about two-thirds of this use is attributable to dry cow therapy. Dry cow therapy has been one of the most successful interventions performed on dairy farms to control and prevent infections around the dry period. Capel points out that udder health and production management practices have improved significantly since the introduction of blanket dry cow therapy. Selective dry cow therapy is a program that identifies cows or quarters that are subclinically infected or at risk of infection at the time of dry off. The metrics typically evaluated to select at-risk cows include somatic cell count and clinical mastitis data. Capel mentions that farm-level risk factors may be more important than cow-level risk factors in deciding which dairies could implement selective dry cow therapy.  He suggests that veterinarians should evaluate dry off technique, cleanliness of the cows, conditions of the dry pen, infection status of the herd, quality of clinical mastitis recording, and pathogen profile of the herd through culturing. The economic impact of a selective dry cow therapy program is estimated at $8 per cow, and the decreased use of antimicrobials and incorporation of improved antimicrobial stewardship on farms is a great incentive for veterinarians to discuss these programs with their producers. Capel suggests eliminating risk factors prior to incorporating a selective dry cow therapy program to improve success and to monitor the success of the program through records evaluation on a regular basis.