Clinical Mastitis
The First Eight Days
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21423/aabppro20104094Keywords:
clinical mastitis, antibiotic usage, blanket treatment, culturing, drug cost, drug usage, somatic cell countAbstract
Clinical mastitis represents one of the most common reasons for antibiotic usage on a dairy farm, especially if a dairy uses a blanket mastitis treatment program. With a blanket mastitis treatment program, many cows are treated unnecessarily or treated with an ineffective antibiotic. The first eight days represent a time period in which, if the antibiotic is effective, a bacterial cure due to an antibiotic should take place. Daily culturing of the clinical mastitis case and the use non-treated controls (for research) is really the only way to determine the effect of an antibiotic, as self-cures can occur with any organism. In this study, cows that developed naturally occurring clinical mastitis were treated with various antibiotics and methods and had the following monitored for the first eight days, then once a week until completely cured, culled, or dead: temperature, pulse, respiration, hydration status, rumen status, secretion color, udder firmness, somatic cell count (SCC), culture, and colony forming units (cfu). Conclusions: It is usually safe to wait for culture results (one to two days) before determining if antibiotic treatment is necessary for cows with mild to moderate clinical mastitis. The majority of clinical mastitis cases are mild to moderate. About 25% of clinical mastitis cases are no-growth and require no treatment. Mild cases of Escherichia coli do not require antibiotic treatment. Intramammary antibiotics are warranted for streptococcal clinical mastitis. First lactation cows with Staphylococcus aureus mastitis should be treated with an intramammary antibiotic. While these results and conclusions are based on findings from a single dairy, utilizing culture-based therapy and following up with daily culturing on clinical mastitis cases will help any dairy to develop the most prudent and justified mastitis treatment plan. It will also result in savings through decreased milk loss due to improper treatment, milk discard due to drug withholding periods, and drug costs.
