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AUTUMN 2013 ISSUE
LIVESTOCK MATTERS
12
Targeting environmental
mastitis
pathogens
Veterinary surgeon
Ruth Wotton
Ruth Wotton
St Boniface
Two years ago, Devon dairy farmer Paul Warren of Gays
Farm near Crediton was getting a high incidence of mastitis
cases in early lactation cows, an indication of infections
picked up in the dry period. Cows were calved down
between September and mid-February.
Paul adds: ‘Cell counts were also consistently
higher than usual - over the 200,000 cells/ml
mark. So I was losing out on bonus payments
as well.’
Ruth used DairyCo’s mastitis plan to carry
out an audit of the farm: ‘It’s 33 pages of
questions - but it makes you look at every
aspect of anything that could impact on
mastitis - cubicles, feed space, milking routine,
milking cow and dry cow treatments…’
As part of the investigation, Ruth looked at the
trends in cell counts and clinical cases, using
TotalVet, a software programme linked to
Paul’s milk records. She says: ‘There were
fewer cases in September to November when
the dry cows were out at grass. It was only
when they came into the sheds that mastitis
cases increased. So having identified the risk
period, we could then look to see where and
how to make changes.’
Although Paul had been drying the cows off
with an antibiotic which gave 28 days
protection and had prolonged action against
E.coli, this was not enough. During the winter,
the dry cows were densely stocked in straw
yards - and the bacterial challenge was
proving too much.
XLVets practice
St Boniface Veterinary
Clinic
Cubicles ready for winter
Mastitis
Some changes to housing management were
required. Paul explains: ‘In the dry cow shed,
we started to apply hydrated lime onto the
straw to help kill bacteria. And we now clear
all the straw out half-way through the winter.
Also, the mats in the milking cows’ cubicles are
spread with sawdust into which hydrated lime
has been added. These mats are cleaned off
twice each day, and fresh sawdust applied.’
A major change has been the application of a
teat sealant at drying off. Paul had not been a
believer in the benefits of the concept but was
persuaded by Ruth to give it a try. For the first
season he just used it on those cows which
would be calving down later - indoors. It
resulted in significantly lower levels of
mastitis, and he now uses it on all cows.
Ruth and Paul also took up a proactive
approach to getting cows back into calf so
that they could calve down in the period
between September and mid-December. This
involves treating non-cycling cows, plus the
introduction of a heat detection system
(transponders on collars), for which Ruth
helped Paul get funding.
Ruth Wotton and Paul Warren