Basic HTML Version
WORKING
TOGETHER
FOR A HEALTHIER FUTURE...
17
LIVESTOCK MATTERS
Using the
DairyCo
Mastitis Control Plan has
cut the number of clinical cases by two thirds
on a Gloucestershire farm.
Martin Wooldridge
Farmer
Knowing where to start is sometimes the biggest challenge when it comes
to tackling mastitis, and Gloucestershire farmer, Martin Wooldridge says
he's thankful he appears to have started in just the right place.
Veterinary surgeon
Andrew Henderson
Sean Hughes
XLVets practice
Tyndale Vets
For Mr Wooldridge, his wife Ros and son
James, working with their 200-head herd
in Nympsfield near Stroud, dry cow
management was the first focus of their
attention in the campaign to reduce
the disease.
Admitting that the incidence of mastitis at
one point had reached 120 cases per 100
cows per year, he says that instinct would
have naturally led him to consider the routine
in the parlour.
Instead, he consulted his vet, Andrew
Henderson from Tyndale Vets, and the whole
team decided to take a much broader
approach.
Opting to use the DairyCo Mastitis Control
Plan as the framework for the process, he
says that from the outset, it began to confirm
what they thought was their problem.
‘We used to have a lot of cows calving
down with clinical mastitis, so when we went
through the plan's questionnaire - which
delved in great detail into every aspect of the
herd's management, often asking questions
we wouldn't have thought of asking ourselves
it wasn't a great surprise when dry cows
were identified as an area for improvement,’
says James.
‘At the time, cows were calving on straw in
the dry cow yard, and moved into another
straw yard once they had calved,’ he says.
‘The calves would stay on the cows for
around a week and although they looked
clean and comfortable, it's true we didn't
clean the yards as often as we should.’
Cross-suckling was also taking place within
the group and as Mr Henderson points out:
‘This isn't a good idea from a calf disease
perspective, and since teat canals could have
been continuously open, the cows were also
left very prone to udder infection.’
One of the earliest decisions, when the plan
began in 2009, was to change the dry cow
housing and the calving pens, and a
second-hand shed measuring 90 x 45 feet
was erected at a cost of around £12,000.
We couldn't afford cubicles in the shed at the
same time, so decided to loose-house the dry
cows on sand,’ says James. ‘We'd have up
to 25 cows in the shed and muck it out
twice-a-day with a shavings fork.’
Individual calving pens were also created
inside the shed, allowing each cow and her
calf to be managed and monitored separately
from the group.
The cows under this system are described by
the vet as 'as clean as any you'd find' while
the response in terms of clinical mastitis was
immediate and pronounced.
‘We've now done two winters with this system
and we haven't had one cow calve in with
mastitis during that time,’ says James.
The next phase is to install cubicles in this
shed which, Mr Wooldridge says, will allow
around 40 dry cows to be housed in the
same area as the current 25.
‘We will add a small loose yard for a
maximum of eight cows where they can
remain for up to two weeks before calving,’
he says.
All of the changes to the dry cow housing
are said to have given a far better structure
to transition cow management and have
allowed a maize and straw-based ration
to be fed, rather than grass silage from
ring feeders.
And the knock-on effects have been seen
through the whole herd.
Sean Hughes
Tyndale Vets
Andrew Henderson
Tyndale Vets