Improving nutrition and diagnosis aid mastitis battle

BETTER nutrition and farm specific diagnosis have been recommended by a top EU vet in the fight against rising mastitis levels in dairy cows.

Mastitis is the most costly and time consuming production disease in many European dairy areas, and several countries report increased incidence of severe clinical cases, according to Henri Seegers, Professor of Animal Production at the Veterinary School of Nantes, France. “Improving nutrition around calving and also during the first months of lactation, can help reduce or eliminate mastitis problems“, says Seegers, also the head of France’s INRA National Institute for Agricultural Research.

“Studies have shown since a long time that susceptibility is influenced by dietary levels of vitamins E and A and also trace elements, including selenium, copper and zinc”, said the French professor in his contribution to Knowledge Agriculture, in which the Irish livestock nutrition company, Keenans, collects the thoughts of a group of top EU agri-scientists.