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Veterinary surgeon
Jonathan Stockton
XLVets practice
Kingsway Vet Practice
Their team efforts have paid off along the
way. Over the past eight years, Adrian has
regularly been amongst the finalists in milk
quality awards organised by his milk buyer.
Adrian currently runs a herd of 130 milking
cows with an average yield of 10,000
litres/cow. Cell counts tend to range between
80,000 and 100,000 cells/ml, with all milk
going into the tank.
Jonathan says: ‘Adrian and his fellow milkers
at High Ground Farm are good at paying
attention to detail, and are careful to follow a
routine procedure in the parlour.’
But there have been ‘blips’ of high cell count
cases from time to time, and Adrian and
Jonathan have had to track down the cause
and make changes to bring levels back down.
Milking routine changes
Ten years ago, Adrian took advantage of the
availability of the first teat sealant. It reduced
the mastitis cases in newly calved cows and
was a relatively simple step forward in
controlling cell count levels.
About eight years ago, mastitis cases from
contagious bacteria were causing a rise in cell
counts. Jonathan explains: ‘Mastitis caused by
Staphylococcus aureus is hard to cure. So
Adrian was advised to dry some infected
cows off early and cull some of them.’
Adrian explains: ‘Following discussions with
Jonathan, to help reduce the spread of the
bacteria we identified the high cell count
cows with yellow tape on their tails. We then
disinfected the clusters with peracetic acid
after milking them, adapting a teat sprayer
to do this.
‘Also, if a cow had three cases of clinical
mastitis in the same quarter in the same
lactation, then the teat was identified with
blue tape and its quarter then dried off.
‘Having culled out some of the cows, and then
disinfecting between clusters, we significantly
reduced the numbers of persistent offenders,’
says Adrian.
WORKING
TOGETHER
FOR A HEALTHIER FUTURE...
15
LIVESTOCK MATTERS
MAST I T I S FEATURE
Adapting the parlour routine
ensures mastitis rates stay low
Jonathan Stockton
Kingsway Vet Practice
Adrian Beresford
High Ground Farm
Yorkshire farmer Adrian Beresford of High
Ground Farm near Skipton, and his vet
Jonathan Stockton of Kingsway Vet Practice,
have worked together for many years.
Over time, they have gradually been able
to reduce the numbers of mastitis cases
and cell count levels, by adapting milking
parlour routines.
Adrian Beresford’s cattle
Examining a teat end