Milking Machine Function

Systems Analysis and Possible Relationship of Milking Machine to Mastitis

Abstract

I started my career with Strep agalactiae. And then became interested in staphs and recently we have had an interest in the coliforms. We have a dairy herd, and like so many of you who may be involved in agriculture, we know there is a lot of money in agriculture because we put a lot of it in there! We have had some problems in our dairy herd with coliform organisms. We have about 90% of the animals with aleucocytes level (reading on a WMT) of under 100,000. I think we have a population that is very susceptible to acute infection, and, if our management falls apart, we end up with an acute case of mastitis. This can be embarrassing-I would guess we lose about three to four animals a year. We have made arrangements with the rendering company to pick those animals up after dark! Dairy farming is tough-I have worn different hats over the years. I practiced as a veterinarian for 15 years-I can say I won my spurs there, and became involved in our dairy farm in 1966 and 1967. In the last few years I have been in industry, but I' can tell you that, in my opinion, far and away the most difficult role in this dairy industry lies with the dairy farmer. So this afternoon we should all be thinking in terms of what we can do to assist that dairyman.