As cows will be calving thick and fast in the coming weeks, carrying out a Californian milk test (CMT) will help with early identification of mastitis infection.
In the lead up to calving, farmers need to ensure that all cubicles are brushed and well limed, while regularly cleaning out the calving box, as doing so plays a significant role in minimising the risk of mastitis infection.
The milking machine and bulk tank should be serviced when it is not in use and parlour management in the early lactation is crucial in keeping bacteria and infection at a minimum, but particularly during the early post-calving period.
A plan must be put in place now as freshly calved cows should be grouped on their own and the CMT should be used on all freshly calved cows on the last milking before they join the main herd.
An early CMT will facilitate early identification of mastitis infections and will reduce the risk of it spreading through the herd.
Early identification of mastitis could be prove to be very cost effective for farmers as it will allow for rapid intervention and allow the cow to return to healthy production and performance more or less straight away.
A lot of herds struggle to keep down somatic cell count (SCC) in the early spring which can come down to environmental factors or sometimes even genetic factors and is one of the reason many farmers have high replacement rates.
However, high SCC is associated with stress, and so calving will result in a spike in SCC in the immediate post-calving period, and should return to normal levels within three to four days.
Farmers who don’t handle these cows or heifers with care and patience post-calving may see a rise in SCC and likewise, getting them out to grass and running them tight when grass supply is under pressure may cause a lot of stress on the animal.
CMT
A stress-related spike in SCC is not caused by infection and it will not spread, however, if a spike in SCC is caused by infection, it can spread easily from cluster to cluster.
Early identification is vital – even if a milk recording is carried out in the early lactation, a number of cows will have calved before that takes place, so a CMT is so important.
Cows with a normal paddle test can go to the main milking herd and their milk can go to the bulk tank in the next milking.
Cows that show up a bit gooey on the paddle on all four quarters, are more than likely still stressed post-calving and should stay separate from the group for another few days.
If space is an issue, cows should be marked clearly and retested in two to three days, with cluster disinfection post-milking employed as a precaution.
If a cow has an issue on or two quarters, they may need treatment. These cows should be held in the freshly calved group, be closely monitored and clearly marked as risk animals.
For a lot of farmers, the CMT is just a given and is part of the calving season, but for many, it is not considered, as they may feel that their milk recording will identify problems, but, by the time the recording comes around, infection may have spread.
