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Mastitis in dairy cattle
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Genetic progresses combined to improved nutritional management have increased performances. For example, in Wisconsin, the average milk production per cow has increased by 21% between 1991 and 1999, from under 14,000 pounds per year to 17,246 pounds, and is still increasing to a slower but steady pace of around 2%/year (source: Program on Agricultural Technology Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison; 2004). Increased productivity puts extra pressure on the animals'...
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Well managed dairy herds with low somatic cell counts (SCC below 200-300,000) often may experience problems with onsets of clinical mastitis. Approximately 40-45% of the mastitis cases in low SCC herds are caused by environmental pathogens which can be difficult to detect because of their short duration. Cows in low SCC herds are most susceptible to environmental streptococci and coliform infections after drying off and just prior to calving but which appear in...
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In the present field trail apparently healthy cows were included. The history of animals was collected. Initially cows were screened for subclinical mastitis employing California mastitis test. Similarly individual quarter milk samples was collected aseptically for bacteriological investigation. The cows which were positive for both CMT and cultural examination were further subdivided into two (C and P ) groups. Cows from these groups were treated respectively with C and P...
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There is nothing more frustrating than having a good (or bad for that matter) cow calve and get clinical mastitis during her period of peak production. Not only is it frustrating, it is also very costly. On a typical Minnesota dairy farm, total losses (decreased milk production, lower milk quality premiums, increased culling and death) from mastitis are about $200 per cow per year. Early lactation mastitis also affects reproduction. Research shows that cows with clinical mastitis before...
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Prototheca are colorless algae that can cause mastitis in dairy cattle. They are widespread in housing areas, pens and pastures used by dairy cattle. Most infections are clinical and remain as chronic infections. Where can prototheca be found on the dairy? Prototheca are often associated with wet areas containing decaying manure and plant matter. They can also be found in flowing water, standing water, water tanks, water runoff from...
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Various agents and mechanisms can alter the condition of the teats of dairy cows. The alterations in teat end condition can occur over a short, medium or long term. The primary short term (ie a single milking) effects include changes in teat color, swelling and firmness of the teat and teat end as well as the degree of openness of the teat orifice. Medium term effects (ie requiring a few days to weeks) include changes in the teat skin condition and incidence of small hemorrhages. The most...
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It is the most common infectious disease in farmed animals. Around one million cases occur each year in the UK. It is painful, occasionally life threatening, and costs the dairy industry £200m every year in lost production and treatments. Within the UK alone it has been estimated that around 12m doses of antibiotic are used annually to control and treat mastitis in cattle. Now The University of Nottingham, with funding worth £2.2m, is to carry out a study of the most common cause of...
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Dairy farmers often comment that pushing cows for production leads to more mastitis from stress. While it's probably true that as production climbs some herds do begin to have more environmental mastitis, it's a possibility that mastitis increases because of changes in the herd's diet. The changes in the diet lead to production of more wet manure as well as more milk. Increased wet manure volume exposes teat ends to more mastitis-causing bacteria. This situation persists if you don't...
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Mastitis is considered the most costly disease in the U.S. dairy industry. Treatment of clinical mastitis is the major reason for antibiotic contamination of products on U.S. dairy farms. A survey of 183 dairy producers was conducted to determine their perceptions regarding clinical mastitis treatments and what constituted their treatment regimens. Results indicated that 33% of dairy producers used a coliform vaccine, 10% used a Staphylococcus aureus vaccine, and 38% did no...
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Five hundred and thirty Holstein cows located in a commercial dairy herd near Birdseye, Indiana, were used to evaluate an iodophor (0.50% iodine) teat dip containing a new conditioner. The new teat dip (Dinerin) was evaluated against a common commercial teat dip (WestAgro Iodozyne pre-dip and West- Agro Blockade post dip). The study was conducted February 17 through June 25, 2004. Cows treated with Dinerin teat dip had lower somatic cell counts and produced more milk than those treated with the...
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Milking a dairy cow with a low somatic cell count (SCC) gives you the largest volume of high-quality milk with the greatest efficiency. A herd full of low-SCC cows would be what you want. However, producers frequently voice concerns that if SCCs get too low more mastitis will occur. They usually mean clinical mastitis-cows get sick, and quarters get hot, hard and produce abnormal milk. What's unclear is the level they consider too low, and whether they're worried about individual cow...
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The most common reasons for a high somatic cell count (SCC) or high incidence of mastitis in the herd are improper cleaning where the cows are housed and/or improper milking techniques or milking equipment, especially if nutrition is adequate and other stresses are minimized. Stray voltage can markedly affect SCC but is not frequent. Heredity can affect the susceptibility of individual cows in the herds, and these cows may have to be culled. Dry Cows and...
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A herd whose bulk tank somatic cell count exceeds 200,000 or DHI SCC score is above 2.5-3.0, or a herd where more than 3 cows per 100 cows show clinical mastitis over a month's time has a costly mastitis problem because of significant lost milk production and reduced economic returns. Herds with elevated SCC may not have many cows that are clinical, but subclinical mastitis infections may cause permanent destruction of milk secretory cells with permanently lower milk producing ability. In other...
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Mycoplasma is a tiny bacterium that can cause mastitis, metritis, pneumonia, drooped ears, and lameness in dairy cattle. While this bacterium has existed for more than 100 years, the current disease was first recognized in the 1960s and 1970s, and has only recently become a problem in Virginia. There has been a steady rise in the frequency and severity of disease associated with Mycoplasma in the last ten years. Mycoplasma is a highly contagious disease that can have...
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As you look out over your heifer crop with great anticipation, do you ever stop to wonder: How many of these future herd replacements are harboring an intramammary infection? How will these heifers affect my somatic cell count and the udder health of my current milking herd? How many will freshen with mastitis or a blind quarter? Recent research has shown that anywhere from 8 to 90 percent of all heifers harbor some type of intramammary infection prior to calving. The prevalence of those...
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I’ve been hearing a lot from dairies lately concerned about Klebsiella mastitis. Many are particularly troubled since they do not use sawdust bedding. Some farms using sand are reporting Klebsiella mastitis problems. Case reports in veterinary journals during the early 1970s associated sawdust bedding with Klebsiella mastitis. For a long time we thought Klebsiella mastitis could be controlled by simply changing to another bedding source. However, recent studies...
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Mastitis is the costliest disease of the dairy industry today. Losses are estimated to be as much as $200 per cow annually. It is obvious that dairymen must control this disease to achieve maximum profit from their enterprise. EFFECTS OF MASTITIS Epithelial cells synthesize milk constituents (protein, fat, lactose). Mastitis is a bacterial infection that destroys these milk-secreting cells. Scar or connective tissue replaces the...
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“The environment in which we place the dairy cow has an impact on hygiene status, lying time and in some situations, it may be responsible for trauma and injury. If our dairy cows are to have longer and more productive lives, we must improve the environment in which we keep them in order to reduce levels of lameness and mastitis.” (How the Environment Affects Cow Longevity by Cook and Nordlund, U of WI-Madison, School of Vet Med.) No doubt, there is a correlation between...
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Mastitis in your herd may be costing you more money than you think, suggests a study linking mastitis and poor reproductive performance in dairy cows. The average clinical mastitis case costs you, the producer, an estimated $150. This figure accounts for economic losses from discarded milk, antibiotic treatment, decreased lactation production and your time managing the treated animal. However, mastitis costs may go deeper than these obvious losses. Udder infections may be hampering...
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Keeping environmental mastitis in check during summer and fall can boost your herd's reproductive performance. The predictable pattern of increased environmental mastitis during late summer and fall could be taking a near-invisible toll on your bottom line. You can plainly see direct costs of clinical mastitis in early-lactation cows: discarded milk, costly treatment and, frequently, reduced milk production for the rest of their lactations. What you may not see is the indirect cost...
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