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.

“More recently, poor energy supply in the ration just before calving and in early lactation, leading to prolonged or intense negative energy balance, have been shown to increase the susceptibility to clinical mastitis, and especially severe cases”, said Seegers.

“The same bacterial challenge in early lactation will give more clinical mastitis and more severe mastitis in ketotic cows than in non-ketotic cows.

“Other peri-partum disorders, like placenta retention, milk fever or acute metritis, are indicators of higher risk for clinical mastitis into such herds”, he explained.

“Nutrition can play a key role, or can act as a risk factor. To build an effective control strategy, a farm specific diagnosis approach is needed.”

Professor Seegers said recommendations should prioritise a small number of corrective actions.

“Improving nutrition, especially around calving and in the first months of lactation, result in additional gains in yield, health and reproductive performance.

Therefore, when dealing with mastitis problems in well-managed farms (that is, where other risk factors are under control), an accurate assessment should be made of the nutritional status of the cows.”