Search
Close this search box.

Using today’s technology for better udder health care.

Good udder health care on dairy farms is crucial not only for maintaining good standards of cow welfare, but also for the prevention of mastitis. Sean Riches, Product & Solutions Manager at Vetoquinol, discusses how producers and their vets can better monitor udder health by utilising today’s technology and making use of the key metrics and data available to them.

Mastitis has a significant impact on milk quality and production as well as significantly contributing to antimicrobial use on farm. “The modern dairy cow has been bred and genetically improved to maximise their milk production,” explains Mr Riches. “As demands for increased milk yield rise, more significant stress is placed on the dairy cow’s productive capacity. This, coupled with other stressors such as housing, insect pests, any concurrent disease and inconsistent milking technique increases the risk of mastitis.”

Harnessing technology to monitor udder health

Mastitis can lead to significant economic losses due to treatment costs, having to discard unsaleable milk, and a reduction in milk yield, therefore monitoring udder health is paramount. VetIMPRESS, a technology platform can enable producers and their vets to look at key data to assess the level of mastitis at farm level and how effectively it’s being managed.

An example of the key data in VetIMPRESS which can give producers and vets that big picture view on mastitis is milk recording data. The data includes individual somatic cell counts (iSCC) which are a key indicator of udder health and infection, as well as being able to see clinical mastitis cases.

“Cells in milk include those shed from the inner surfaces of the udder as well as any white blood cells as part of the immune defence,” says Mr Riches. “In a healthy udder, the iSCC might be very low level, maybe 50,000/ml or less. When cows get mastitis, their iSCC increase dramatically as white blood cells flood into the quarter to tackle the infection. Clots found in the milk of cows with mastitis are mainly clumps of dead white blood cells. If a cow’s iSCC is more than 200,000 cells/ml, she is more likely to be infected with mastitis bacteria.”

The importance of data recording

When mastitis is observed, it’s important that producers record key information, whether by writing it in a notebook or capturing it on farm software. This should include the cow number, date mastitis first noticed, the affected quarters, and date of treatment, course length and withdrawal times. Other useful information to record includes the severity of the mastitis and the outcome of the treatment (success, fail, cull, lost quarter). Doing so allows any trends to be tracked over time and identify where corrective action may be required.

“Alongside your vet, think about monitoring the success of mastitis treatments, using cow SCC in the months after treatment as a measure. You should aim for under 20% of animals in your herd to have an iSCC equal to or over 200,000. Consider culling chronically high-cell-count cows. This is why it’s important to keep track of what’s going on on-farm over time,” explains Mr Riches.

Understanding the causes of mastitis infection

As well as monitoring trends, understanding why infection has happened can help producers determine the mastitis prevention and management measures they need to put in place.

Mastitis occurs when bacteria enter the teat canal. Infection can come from two different routes: infectious bacteria or environmental bacteria. Knowing the difference between the two can help producers prevent mastitis rather than just treat it.

“Infectious bacteria actually live on the skin of the udder, so can indicate poor hygienic methods in and around the cow at milking time,” says Mr Riches. “Whereas the environmental bacteria come from the environment where the cow is living, and that can be bedding, dirt on the floors and walkways, around water and feed troughs, field gateways, all of those kinds of areas.”

Hygiene levels on farm can be easily observed. Are cows’ udders, feet, and flanks dirty? Is there dirt around the top of the tail? Is milk being captured as hygienically as possible? All of this can be easily scored and tracked over time to see where improvements can be made.

“VetIMPRESS can help with this using its recording system to capture hygiene scores so producers can assess what’s going on at a farm level,” says Mr Riches. “There’s also a cleanliness scorecard on the AHDB website they can access.”

The role of teat scoring

Teat scoring is also a simple and effective technique for producers to consider. It provides a good indication of how clean and well-maintained milking equipment is and how well managed the milking process is. Poor milking technique can affect the teat end seal, which can lead in turn to an increased risk of mastitis.

“If cows aren’t being milked out properly, milkers are being too rough with them, and equipment isn’t being cleaned before and after, this increases infection risk,” says Mr Riches. “Carrying out teat scoring at regular intervals can help producers measure the effectiveness of the milking machine and parlour routine.”

Diagnostic testing for targeted treatment decisions

Another key to managing mastitis better is identifying which bacteria are causing the problem. Mr Riches stresses the usefulness of an udder health care solution which combines livestock health and production data with simple diagnostic tools in helping producers understand this.

“Simple bacteriology tools enable targeted mastitis management,” says Mr Riches. “A testing approach for mastitis management is much more sustainable than just treating it. It also supports the drive for responsible and appropriate use of medications.”

Producers who want to benefit from simple, precise diagnostics can consider utilising VetoSlide or Mastatest. VetoSlide enables the identification of gram -ve and/or gram +ve bacteria which can help inform treatment decisions. Where more detailed information is required, Mastatest identifies the actual causative bacteria and its relative antimicrobial sensitivity.

There are many factors affecting udder health and the advantage of using platforms like VetIMPRESS, to record important data, is the ability to access the information all in one place.

“Your milk data, hygiene scores, mastitis treatment records for individual cows- all of these give you the big picture view of what’s going on at farm level,” says Mr Riches. “On its own, each type of data is valuable, but together it’s invaluable, and informs a mastitis management plan which ultimately helps maintain udder health on your farm.”

Enquiries & Comments