Losing Cows from Mastitis

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Lecture Slides/Handout
The Handout for the slide set can be retrieved
by pulling up (or printing) the note page in
Power Point program .
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Losing Cows Due to Mastitis
Sears, 2003
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Losing Cows from Mastitis

• Severe Clinical Mastitis - Death or Culling
• Chronic infections (high SCC) - Culling

Sears, 2003
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Losing Cows from Mastitis
Cause of mastitis

• Severe Clinical Mastitis
• Environmental - Coliforms infections
• Chronic infections (high SCC)
• Contagious - Staph Strep infections

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Severe Clinical Mastitis

• Cows lost directly from clinical case
• Die
• Gland damage loss production
• Loss of body condition
• Dry off
• Abort

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Severe Clinical Mastitis
Average for Michigan dairies ------

• 4 cases /100 cows milking / year
• Goal 1 case / year
• Action dependent on prevention
• Housing
• Bedding
• Nutrition
• Metabolic Disease

Clean Dry sand bedding
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Severe Clinical Mastitis
25 of severe cases lost (5050
dieculled) Goal 10 lost Action Immune
concepts nutrition vaccination
Treatment supportive antibiotics ?
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Severe Clinical Mastitis
Range for Michigan dairies ------

• 0-8 cases /100 cows / year
• Clean, dry cows
• 0 55 of severe cases (diedculled)
• Type of pathogen
• Proper supportive and antibiotic use
• Where are you?

Sears, 2003
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Chronic Infections (High SCC)Culling

• Its ALWAYS a lossbut which loss is least
  expensive?
• Reasons for culling
• Reasons against culling
• Culling cows to gain a quality bonus

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Chronic Infections (High SCC)Culling

• Its ALWAYS a lossbut which loss is least
  expensive?
• Therapy?
• Lactation treatment - Strep agalactiae
• Dry cow therapy - Staph Strep
• Dry off cow - late lactation
• Dry off quarter - chronic infection
• Cull

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Chronic Infections (High SCC)Culling

• Reasons for Culling
• Therapy not practical
• eg, Pseudomonas, yeasts, etc
• Previous therapy unsuccessful
• Three strikes
• Not pregnant
• Other chronic disease
• Contagious mastitis pathogen carrier
• More than one quarter infected
• Lower percentile 305 d ME

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Chronic Infections (High SCC)Culling

• Reasons against Culling
• Pregnant
• No other health problems
• Not contagious mastitis
• Only one quarter infected
• Higher percentile 305 d ME
• Therapy untested
• Extended
• Dry cow

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Chronic Infections (High SCC)Culling

• Culling cows to gain a quality bonus
• It depends
• Price of milk
• Value of bonus
• How many and quality of cows to be culled
• But it generally does not pay..

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Chronic Infections (High SCC)Culling

• Culling cows to gain a quality bonus

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Chronic Infections (High SCC)Culling

• Culling cows to gain a quality bonus
• Treatment to reduce SCC If an individual cow is
  treated and SCC is halved, she may gain 1.5 lbs
  per day .

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Chronic Infections (High SCC)Culling

• Culling cows to gain a quality bonus
• Treatment to reduce SCC If an individual cow is
  treated and SCC is halved, she may gain 1.5 lbs
  per day .
• Cull cows to reduce SCC If enough cows are
  culled in a herd to lower herd SCC by 50, the
  remaining cows do not increase production by 1.5
  lbs/ day!

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Chronic Infections (High SCC)Culling

• Culling cows to gain a quality bonus
• Treatment to reduce SCC If an individual cow is
  treated and SCC is halved, she may gain 1.5 lbs
  per day .
• Cull cows to reduce SCC If enough cows are
  culled in a herd to lower herd SCC by 50, the
  remaining cows do not increase production by 1.5
  lbs/ day!
• Bonus gained Does gain in price/cwt (bonus) and
  cull cow salvage exceed loss in milking profit
  per cow?

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Design Clinical Mastitis Protocol
Clinical Mastitis Decision
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Write-out Treatment Plan
Records Treatments
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Summary

• Severe Clinical Mastitis
• Determine cause - culture
• Reduce source
• Develop treatment protocol
• Chronic Mastitis
• Determine cause - culture
• Decision
• develop treatment protocol
• develop decision for culling

Sears, 2003