Assisting Dairies in Mastitis Culturing On-farm

Abstract

An on-farm milk culturing program can generate useful information that may be used to facilitate treatment decisions that reduce farm expenses. Prior to beginning an on-farm milk culturing program, detailed protocols must be developed that include information about which cows will have milk samples collected and cultured, milk culturing procedures, and how culture results will be used in therapeutic decision-making. Because many milk cultures result in the growth of no pathogens or gram-negative pathogens, and many farms elect not to treat such cases, a milk culturing program can result in reduced expenses associated with treatment of mastitis. Discontinuation of on-farm culture programs is common; in order to increase the likelihood of success of the program, procedures must be clear and simple, the program must be beneficial to the farm, and the farm staff in charge of the program must be interested in mastitis microbiology and have time to perform related duties. In addition, the limitations of on-farm culture must be understood and accepted; it is not equivalent to milk culture performed at a diagnostic microbiological laboratory. Proper farm and personnel selection, comprehensive protocols, simple procedures, and proper utilization of culture results will help increase the likelihood of success of an on-farm culture program.