Pamela L. Ruegg

IntroductionIn spite of considerable progress in improvement of milk quality, mastitis continues to be the most frequent and costly disease of dairy cows, however few veterinarians are actively involved in mastitis control programs. On most farms, detection, diagnosis and administration of treatments for clinical mastitis are the responsibility of farm personnel and veterinarians are often consult ...

IntroductionControl of mastitis caused by Streptococcus agalactiae and Staphylococcus aureus has resulted in reductions in bulk tank somatic cell count (SCC) but many herds continue to struggle with treatment of clinical mastitis caused by environmental pathogens. On many modern dairy farms, mastitis is caused by an increasingly diverse group of opportunistic pathogens (Figure 1). Common environme ...

IntroductionMastitis remains the most common disease of dairy cows and treatment or prevention of this disease is the most common reason that antibiotics are administered to cows (Pol and Ruegg, 2007, Saini et al., 2012). Mastitis is detected by inflammation that is caused by infection by microorganisms and occurs in both clinical and subclinical forms. Milk obtained from quarters of cows with sub ...

Introduction  The technical definition of mastitis is “inflammation of the mammary gland” but on a practical basis, almost all bovine mastitis is caused by bacteria [1]. Appropriate mastitis control is based on knowledge of the etiology, thus identification of pathogens is a fundamental aspect of mastitis control programs. Mastitis occurs after an infective dose of a pathogen ...

IntroductionIn modern dairy cattle operations, most antimicrobials are administered for therapeutic purposes but some are used for prevention during periods of increased susceptibility. While mastitis is the most common disease of adult dairy cows and accounts for most usage of antibiotics [1, 2] cows are also treated for other infectious diseases, including respiratory and uterine infections and ...

Introduction In modern dairy cattle operations, antimicrobials are administered for both therapeutic and prophylactic purposes. Most antimicrobials are used therapeutically but some antimicrobials are used to prevent disease in healthy animals during periods of increased susceptibility. Mastitis is one of the most frequent infectious diseases in dairy cattle and accounts for most of the doses of a ...

IntroductionIn theU.S., dairy products made with milk of small ruminants are considered to be specialty foods that are generally purchased by consumers who have little exposure to the realities of modern agriculture.  Consumers assume that they are purchasing high quality, safe dairy products produced by healthy animals and harvested under hygienic conditions.  Mastitis is an important d ...

Introduction Mastitis continues to be the most frequent and costly disease of dairy cattle. Financial losses due to mastitis occur for both subclinical and clinical stages of the disease. Losses caused by subclinical mastitis are well documented. Each doubling of SCC above 50,000 cells/ml results in a loss of 0.4 kg and 0.6 kg of milk per day in first lactation and older cows, respectively (Hortet ...

IntroductionThe profitable production of high quality milk from healthy adult cows is the ultimate goal of most heifer management programs.  The successful calving of a healthy heifer is the result of investments in effective animal health management over the 2 year period beginning at birth and culminating in the first calving.  Deficiencies in health management during this period can r ...

IntroductionThe quality of milk is defined based on the somatic cell count (SCC) and bacterial count of bulk tank milk. Since 1986, the dairy industry has successfully adapted to gradual reductions in allowable regulatory limits for SCC and bacteria. The dairy industry has responded by adopting methods to control contagious mastitis and the prevalence of mastitis caused by Staphylococcus aureus an ...