Controlling mastitis: First step is get herd somatic cell count well under 200,000
The figures in the ICBF report show a very wide range of SCCs between herds and cows.
There are some herds under 100,000 SCC with heifers under 70,000, and some herds over 350,000 SCC with most heifers carrying infection and showing high SCC readings.
Herds which have SCC consistently above 250,000 are living with infection which is costly and difficult to control.
So the first step should be to get the herd average comfortably under 200,000, by following the tried and proven complete Cellecheck mastitis control programme.
First calved heifers are the real barometers of your mastitis control programme.
It is the first thing that farmers should look at.
Unfortunately, heifers being recorded in recent years had a yearly average SCC of around 150,000, which proves that heifers are being widely infected.
The SCC of heifers should be well under 70,000, except for the odd heifer which might temporarily pick up infection and show a raised SCC before being cured quickly.
Farmers who are not milk recording are in a difficult situation, and the best they can do is cull cows which are consistently getting mastitis, and start proper SCC testing next year, through milk recording.
The most important aid to controlling mastitis and SCC is the information in their herd milk recording reports.
Unfortunately, a lot of farmers don’t make full use of the information on their milk recording reports.
Check the SCC movements of first calvers very closely.
If these are moving up and down, it is a sure sign they are getting infection.
There is major concern around the world about the vast amount of antibiotics being used for animals, and particularly at the drying off of cows.
Ideally, only cows with infections should be treated with antibiotic dry cow tubes, and all cows treated with a teat seal.
This is the situation in some countries where farmers have very good information on the SCC status of all cows.
This is also the practice on a small minority of Irish farms.
However, at the present levels of SCC on Irish farms, blanket treatment with dry cow antibiotics is necessary on the vast majority of farms.
Herd SCCs should be under 150,000, with precise details of individual cows, before considering skipping dry cow antibiotics with some of the herd.
Proper treatment at drying off is very important and will be described here next week.
