Treat the Treatable and Manage the Rest

Managing the Bulk Tank Somatic Cell Count and Reducing Treatment Costs

Abstract

Farm income for many dairies can be improved by increasing the value of milk by taking advantage of somatic cell count (SCC) based milk quality premiums and reducing treatment costs. Recent research has shown that the likelihood of an animal to have a repeat case of clinical mastitis after a first clinical case is about 30%. Pathogen-based treatment protocols should provide a science-based process for selecting the most appropriate treatment and duration of treatment resulting in high bacteriological cure rates and fewer repeated clinical cases. Many infections caused by gram-positive organisms, particularly streptococcal species, respond well to appropriate treatment; cure rates can approach 80% or higher. Most gram-negative pathogens respond poorly to intramammary treatment. Mastitis caused by other pathogens, such as yeast, are exacerbated by intramammary treatment and others, like Prototheca species and mycoplasma, have no known treatment. Generally the normal distribution of mastitis pathogens is about one-third gram-positive organisms, one-third gram-negative pathogens, and one-third no growth culture result, suggesting that pathogen-based treatment protocols have the potential for substantial savings.

Duration of treatment for specific mastitis pathogens should have a major influence on cure rates, particularly for a range of streptococcal species and select Staphylococcus aureus infections.

There are also opportunities to manage chronic subclinical infections which are often the major contributors to the bulk tank SCC. Milk from high cell count cows can be managed through treatment, segregation of high SCC milk at the quarter level, quarter dry-off, and culling.