When mastitis happens, it is easy to assume antibiotics are the next step. In many cases, they are, but not always. That’s where intentional mastitis treatment decisions make a difference.

Creating a clean environment should always be present on a dairy producer’s mind, for many reasons. There are the obvious reasons like food safety, milk quality, animal welfare and more. But it also paints a better picture for consumers and it’s just a good business strategy.

We often hear that mastitis costs the U.S. dairy industry $2 billion per year. But what does this mean on a case level?

When Travis and Gordon Speirs of Shiloh Dairy set out to improve milk quality in their Holstein herd, they were aiming for a somatic cell count (SCC) below 120,000. The dairy currently runs a SCC of 77,000. Their secret sauce? Milk quality isn’t a parlor issue.

Klebsiella is a difficult bacteria to deal with because infections can come on quickly without warning and have the potential to be fatal. Understanding how it spreads and how to prevent it is important for protecting herd health.

The hospital pen or group is often the most disliked pen on a dairy. These are the cows that have abnormal milk and may or may not be sick. These animals must be isolated and identified so their milk does not enter the milk supply. The better the program for handling these cows, the lower the risk of spreading to the clean cows in the herd.