An Integrated Quality Control System to Provide Dairy Farmers with Management Advice to Control Mastitis and Improve Profitability

Abstract

An integrated system of quality control which incorporates information obtained from a standardized recording form (instrument) based on milking management performance has been developed and validated. The instrument was tested to determine whether it is more effective during a farm visit at consistently defining problems causing suboptimal udder health compared to using existing veterinary investigative procedures. The instrument provides specific scoring criteria for the most important 46 individual management practices associated with suboptimal udder health. A convenience sample of 26 dairies serviced by 9 veterinarians from 5 veterinary practices with an average sec greater than 250,000 were randomly assigned into instrument-advice (IA) and veterinary practice-advice (VPA) study groups. Rounds 1, 2 (6 months), and 3 (12 months) for all the dairies consisted of collecting a bulk tank culture, scoring each dairy's milking management practices, recording data on mastitis losses, collecting DHI data and milk processing plant results, taking milking time vacuum recordings, and recording data on costs for changes made as a result of the plan of action (rounds 2 and 3 only). Each VPA dairy's veterinarian received only the bulk tank culture results and reported those to the dairy operator and was free to implement a plan of action. Each IA dairy's veterinarian also received all the data from the round 1 visit, and advice including a plan of action to be presented to the dairy operator. In addition, to enhance dairy operator compliance, an economic worksheet which assesses quality control programs for mastitis was used to determine tha amount of financial profit and return from adoption of the plan of action. Preliminary results of rounds 1 and 2 plus implications for dairy practitioners will be discussed in this presentation.