Controlling Mastitis (Pt1) - Environmental Causes, Diagnosis and Treatment

A “HANDS-ON” event organised by Myerscough College, and the Clover Club, took a practical approach to the environmental causes of mastitis.

 

Held at the College’s dairy farm at Bilsborrow near Preston, the Northwest Livestock Programme demonstration saw representatives from DairyCo, Lambert, Leonard and May vets and Pfizer give advice to 15 farmers on what to look for and the courses of action to take.

 

Environmental Factors:

 

DairyCo extension officer Karen Lancaster gave a detailed look at environmental factors which lead to mastitis infections and how this changes cow behaviour.

 

Starting outside the dry cow shed, Karen asked the groups how many bedded down on straw yards and how many used cubicles. (The answer proved 50/50).

 

She said farmers should be aiming for an eight week dry period – three weeks involution, a steady two week period and then three weeks for colostrum formation - pointing out that you need the bit in the middle to cure the problem - especially for high cell counts.

 

Moving into the dairy housing, Karen noted the importance of keeping cubicles clean, comfortable and, where possible, as wide as possible.  

 

She said: “Lying time is critical. When assessing cubicle usage a rate of 85% should be lying down.

 

“Watch how easily they get up and lie down and how long it takes them. Rubbing points will give you a good idea of your dimensions but if you are constrained by narrow cubicles, you will improve lying times by improving comfort.

 

“For every extra hour they lie down they will produce an extra litre of milk.”

 

Sand was praised as “the best bedding material for its inorganic properties in reducing bacteria,” the only down side being that it has to be applied liberally and is hard to dispose of without an agitator and suitable slurry system.

 

The main message though was prevention rather than cure. Other suggestions were splitting high cell count cows from low cell count cows and keeping heifers produced off cows that haven’t had a history of mastitis.

 

“You should shy away from any teat dip that says it will do both (pre and post milk) as they are two different jobs.” - Karen Lancaster.

 

Another important point that farmers in the group took on board was the use of separate pre and post dip solutions when cleaning teats, rather than using “one dip fits all”.

 

“You should shy away from any dip that says it will do both as they are effectively doing two different jobs,” said Karen.

 

“With the pre-dip you want an instant bacteria kill in the first 30 seconds it makes contact. For the post dip you want one that is longer lasting, spraying is fine but the whole tip needs to be sprayed, or soaked, as you need good coverage.”

 

Standing time after milking was also raised as the Holstein teat doesn’t close up straight away. Putting fresh feed out after milking to keep them standing for a period of at least 30 minutes was advised, as was putting the footbath away from the parlour to keep the bath cleaner for longer.

 

And, when grazing outdoors, Karen highlighted the importance of well-maintained cow tracks and a three to four week pasture rotation.

 

Creating an effective dry period:

 

Elsewhere in the calving shed, Ben Gaskell from Pfizer talked about creating an effective dry period and gave a demo on best practice when using the California Mastitis Test (CMT).

 

He showed how to use it, when to use it and handed out free kits for farmers to take home and try themselves.

 

 

What is the California Mastitis Test? – Click here for Pfizer’s farmer guide >>

 

He also talked about the different drying off options, somatic cell counts and the effective application and use of teat sealants – stating there is no one miracle cure and that it is often down to the immunity of the cow as to how well a treatment works.

 

"Only one in four Holsteins will naturally produce a keratin plug" - Ben Gaskell

 

“A cell count of 200,000 (per ml of milk) is the industry standard. Most farmers look at the top 10% of cows with high counts when they should be looking at those just going over this mark," said Ben.

 

“Those at the top are most likely broken cows. It’s the ones just above and below that you should be treating before they get worse.”

 

“There is a two in three chance of curing at the dry cow stage opposed to clinical and sub clinical. Start with antibodies and then use teat sealants as only one in four Holsteins will naturally produce a keratin plug.”

 

Hugh Black from DairyCo gave an introduction to the DairyCo Mastitis Control Plan which aims to improve the control of mastitis in dairy herds throughout the UK.

DairyCo's Mastitis Control Plan website >>

 

"Hands-on" milk sample demonstration:

 

Jude Roberts and Ian Cure from Lambert, Leonard and May vets demonstrated the best way to take a sterile sample for an accurate diagnosis, before overseeing each farmer practice taking his own sample.

 

"Poor sampling technique leads to contamination and misleading results which wastes time and money"

 

 

Jude and Ian then explained how best to assess samples and determine course of treatment.

 

The main points when taking a sample are:

 

1, Always wear “clean” gloves

2, Pre-dip (if you don’t usually use one then think about doing so for this)

3, Leave on for 30 seconds and dry wipe to get rid of all drops of water / bacteria

4, Get rid of some of the milk i.e. remove bacteria from inside.

5, Thoroughly disinfect the teat using cotton wool swab soaked in surgical spirit and dry off

6, Get rid of more milk and then air dry

7, Collect sample by holding the tube as horizontally as possible and not directly underneath – you only require two squirts rather than a full pot.

 

Further information and fact sheets from the day

 

Environmental Mastitis Hand Out - Clover Club >>

How to take a sample - DairyCo guide >>

Pfizer’s Collecting and Transporting samples guide >>

Pfizer’s teat sealant technique guide >>

 

DairyCo's Mastitis Control Plan website >>

 

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Controlling Mastitis (Pt2) - Contagious Mastitis and Parlour Routine:

Speaker: Dairy machinery specialist Ian Ohnstad.

Read the on-farm report from the demo event held at Game Farm, Singleton, Lancashire >>  

 (Report and pictures by Adrian Capstick) 

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