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Module 21: Ruminant Production > Mastitis: Herd Approach > Flashcards

Mastitis: Herd Approach Flashcards

1
Q

what would be the scenarios of a farmer or a referring vet to conact over mastitis

A

High bulk tank SCC (BTSCC)

Increase of animals with high individual SCC (ISCC)

Increase of clinical mastitis cases

Bulk tank failed an antibiotic (or bactoscan) test

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2
Q

what is the stepwise approach to herd mastitis (5)

A
  1. farm background
  2. on-farm investigatino
  3. data analysis
  4. written report
  5. on-farm discussion
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3
Q

what should you look at before you go to the farm

A

bulk tank SCC (BTSCC)

bulk tank bactoscan

individual SCC (ICSCC)

clinical records

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4
Q

what cows should you sample

A

Clinical

  • All new cases (ask to sample and keep milk frozen)

Subclinical

  • High SCC animals
  • Quarter selection based on CMT
  • 10-12 samples
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5
Q

what are some key questions to get farm background

A

Actions in place:

  • Preventative protocols
  • Monitoring policy
  • Culling policy
  • Lactating dry cows management
  • Dry cows management
  • Treatment protocols

Economic impact:

  • Penalties or lost of bonus
  • Production losses (subclinical and clinical cases)
  • Treatment
  • Discarded milk
  • Culling
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6
Q

how do obtain a bacteriology sample

A

Wear gloves

Discard several streams of milk

Pre-dipping/spraying

Dry teat

Scrub teat end with 70% alcohol

Hold sterile tube at 45º angle

Refrigerate (< 4ºC) and culture (max 48h) or freeze them immediately

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7
Q

what do you need to observe in the milking routine

A

Collecting yard

Cows entering the parlour

Cow flow

Use of backing gate

Interaction with milkers

Milking order

Milking routine — leap frog?

Use of water

Cow hygiene

Udder prep — cloths/wipes/dry/disinfection

Machine hygiene

Cluster application

Removal of cluster — break vacuum?

Automatic cup removers (ACRs)

Milker hygiene

Clinical mastitis detection

Stripping out at cups on (or cups off)

Decision making tree for clinical case

Teat spray

Timings of milking

Cow comfort at milking

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8
Q

how should clinical mastitis cases ideally be detected

A

Ideally before clusters are attached to the cows

Bulk tank contamination

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9
Q

what needs to be considered when looking at the teat spray/disinfection

A

Product used

Contact time with teat skin

  • Lots of things can go wrong in this area

How much is applied?

Pre or post milking?

Coverage — paper towel test

  • If spray is being used
  • Wrap around teat and if adequate coverage the paper towel should be consistently soaked

How often is it mixed up?

% emollient — glycerol or sorbitol

How is it stored?

  • Sunlight or organic matter

Method of application

  • Inline dropper wand or Cambrian sprayer, dipping — are the nozzles blocked?

Beware of water contamination - coliforms!

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10
Q

when do you score teats

A

When cups come off look at teats (about 30-40 cows to give a good sample size)

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11
Q

at what point (%) of teats showing discolouration or edema do you consider problems in the milking routine

A

If more than 20% of teats show sign of discolouration of edema

  • Excessive vacuum
  • Pulsation problems
  • Worn or perished liners
  • Over-milking
  • Removal of clusters without releasing milking vacuum
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12
Q

how do you score hyperkeratosis at the teat end

A

‘roughness’

no ring

smooth

rough

very rough

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13
Q

how do you score edema at the teat end

A

often at base of teat

normal or swollen

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14
Q

how do you score the orifice openess at the teat end

A

closed or open (matchstick test)

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15
Q

how do you score the teat end colour

A

normal

pigmented

red

blue (hemorrhages – usually petechial or cyanosis)

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16
Q

how many cows should you teat end score

A

50 and work out %

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17
Q

when should you teat end score

A

at end of milking when cups off

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18
Q

what other aspects are considered when teat scoring

A

teat lacerations

warts/fibropapillomas

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19
Q

what is over milking %

A

% cows overmilked for 90sec or more

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20
Q

what is under milking

A

residual milk volumes

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21
Q

what is strip yields

A

measuring jug

>100ml

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22
Q

what is delayed milk let down

A

>20sec

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23
Q

how do you assess cow comfort at milkin

A

count kick/steps

count tail swishes

vocalization

24
Q

how do you assess cow accomodation

A

milking, dry and fresh cows

Dimensions

Socking density

Bedding hygiene

Ventilation

Cows behaviour

25
what are types of milking [parlours
Rotary abreast (carousel, turnstile) Herringbone (fishbone) Swing-over herringbone (fishbone)
26
what can you check in the milking machine
rubber ware vacuum stability and reserve pulsation regulator
27
what are the issues with worn rubber liners
Worn liners get cracks = bacteria Worn liners don’t work properly = damages teats and lose elasticity and can’t ‘rest phase’ effectively
28
how often should rubber based liners and silicone liners be changed and how do you visually assess the clusters
Rubber based: 2,500 milkings Silicone based: 10,000 milkings Visual assessing - do clusters hang squarely? Does liner fit cluster? Compatibility
29
what do liner slippages cause
squeaks and squawks causes teat end damage and spread of mastitis
30
how do you assess vacuum stability and reserve
parlour gauge air leak test reports
31
what should the parlour gauge on the vacuum be
45-48 kPa — high line plant 40-44 hPa — low line plant
32
what is the air leak test
Testing vacuum reserve: * leaking air in through clusters and assessing any observed plant
33
what is the ideal pulsation ratio and rate
60:40 45-60 cycles per minute
34
how do you assess pulsation
teat condition thumb test reports
35
how do you assess the regulator
automatically functioning air valve --\> maintenance of stable vacuum observe filter cleanliness open a few clusters drop of kPa by 4-5 units
36
how often should milking machines be serviced
every 6 months written report
37
what data should you analyze
all milk records all on-farm Bulk tank Subclinical mastitis Clinical mastitis Herd profile Calving pattern Production data
38
what should subclinical mastitis milk reports include
Date Cow number CMT results ICSCC BTSCC
39
what should clinical mastitis milk reports include
Date of event Cow number Quarter Date of treatment(s) Treatment(s) given Bacteriological results
40
what data can be collected during the farm visit
Initial talk with farmer Milk parlour assessment Milk routine assessment Teat scoring Accommodation
41
how should you analyze the data
trends in time (seasonality, new vs chronic) trenids in groups (age, lactation) evidence of spread treatment effectiveness (dry and lactating cow therapy)
42
what is prevalence % of subclinical mastitis calculated
= # of cows with SCC \>200,000/total # of cows with SCC record for example per month
43
what is incidence % of subclinical mastitis calculated
= # of cows with SCC \>200,000 for the first time in the period of time of interest/# of cows with SCC\<200,000 in the previous time period x 100
44
what is the dry cow performance KPI
Dry cow performance not including 1st lactation animals Look at cell count and cows that have a high cell count (\>200,000) which then remained high in lactation **High to high** * Did not cure **Low to high** * New infection rates **High to low** * Cure cows **Low to low** * Ideal group
45
what is the case rate of clinical mastitis
case rate = cases/100 cows per year = # of mastitis cases x 100/total # of cows in the herd
46
what is the target case rate of clinical mastitis
_\<_ 30 cases/100 cows per year
47
what is the % incidence of clinical mastitis KPI
Incidence (%) = # of new clinical cases in the period of time of interest/# of animals at risk in the period of time of interest x 100
48
what is the recurrence rate of clinical mastitis %
Recurrence rate = % of quarters requiring repeat treatment per year Mastitis recurrence rate = # of quarters requiring repeat treatment per year x 100/total # of quarters affected also can look at # of cases: * by DIM * by lactation
49
what is the target recurrence rate of clinical mastitis %
_\<_ 10% of quarters per year
50
how else can you analyze all the data of cows
proportion by lactation by DIM by milking group problem cow list \>200,000 cells (150,000 cells for heifers) persistently historic clinical mastitis, repeat cases
51
how do you interpret bacteriology results
**No growth** * Approx 40-50% * Treated? E. coli, Staph. aureus? Unusual organism? Poor sampling storage? **Pure/profuse culture:** * Likely to be causative pathogen **Mixed culture:** * Needs interpretation **Contaminated** * \>3 different colonies * Bacillus spp, Enterococcus spp
52
can you use PCR to ID a pathogen
Direct from milk * Quicker (24-48h) * Reports online and text message service option (Biobest lab) * More sensitive (fewer no growths) * Samples are fixed — no overgrowths * Identifies bacteria (genus) * Specificity? * Expensive (2-3x culture cost) * Potentially useful for coliform and S. aureus After milk culture * To identify the strain from isolates of a pure culture
53
how do you write a report
Structured with separated sections Concise — ACTION PLAN IN A RED BOX Smart goals and no more than 3-4 actions * Initial introduction * Farm background * Problem history * Documentation of facts found during investigation * Detailed evaluation/interpretation of facts * Detailed recommendations
54
how do you have an onfarm discussion
Final report presentation — engage the key stakeholders * Don’t only focus on negatives Who should be involved? Where should we do the presentation? How should we present the report? Discuss investigation findings Discuss recommendations Schedule follow up visit(s) to monitoring changes
55
in case of bulk tank antibiotic test failure what questions should you ask
Any change in staff? Off-license product use? * Intentional/unintentional * Withdrawal period applied Fresh cows? * Dry cows therapy withdrawal period Sick animals receiving antibiotics? * How are they identified? Recently purchased cows?
56
how do you avoid bulk tank antibiotic test failure
Identify cows (specially treated cows) Record all treatments Discard ALL milk when under treated * Don’t rely on dilutional effect if it is a large herd Store and label drugs correctly Advise clients appropriately * How do use drugs etc Use of screening tests Milk treated cows into dump buckets (consider antibiotic group)

Module 21: Ruminant Production (21 decks)

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