Most farmers will have now done their first herd test, which will show which cows in your herd have high somatic cell counts. Now these girls have been identified, what do you do with them?
A high somatic cell count is a strong indicator of subclinical mastitis. Typically when you think of mastitis, you think of clotty milk, inflamed udders, and sick cows, but subclinical mastitis doesn't exhibit any of these symptoms.
Cows with subclinical mastitis can be very hard to identify because on visual inspection everything appears normal and stripping the milk is also likely to reveal no signs. This is where herd testing is very helpful to find them. A rapid mastitis test (RMT) during milking is another way to try and pick them up.
It's key to pinpoint these cows so you can discover what bacteria is causing the high cell counts amongst your herd and in your vat.
We can test sterile milk samples to identify the bacteria and where it's likely to have come from (i.e. an environmental cause like Streptococcus uberis or a contagious cause like Staphylococcus aureus). Once we have this information, we can then help you make an effective plan for treating affected cows and help you determine ways to prevent futher infections.
If it's Strep. it's good to review your farm system, including muddiness of paddocks and lanes, shed hygiene, etc. If it’s Staph. it’s worth checking her previous test results and whether she received any Dry Cow – if she's a repeat offender making sure she is milked last before the vat wash will limit how many bugs she spreads.
We now have two machines in-clinic that we can use for milk sample testing: Mastatest and Jupiter. Both machines are quick and will give us a result within about 24 hours. The Mastatest machine is more sensitive to high cell count cows with subclinical mastitis, while the Jupiter machine can identify a wider range of bacteria types.
Both are useful options – have a chat with our team to figure out which would work best for your samples.
