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.

Keeping somatic cell count low isn’t just about producing high-quality milk; it’s about minimizing milk losses and maintaining a sustainable, efficient operation.

Cow people create environments for cows to thrive in. This is common knowledge to many in the dairy industry, but for Allen Bent and the team at A & J Bent Farms Ltd., it is integral to achieving a somatic cell count (SCC) of 56,000 in a herd of 150 Holsteins.

Because control strategies differ depending on the type of mastitis, knowing the cause of infections in your herd is essential for targeted prevention and treatment.

This article from researchers from the University of Guelph is a literature review discussing insights and knowledge gaps linking health disorders with different processes related to reproductive function.

Routines to maintain udder health change with the transition to automated milking. In a parlor, most of the monitoring of the cow, the equipment, and to some extent the environment, is part of the milking routine. It is completed by the workers in the parlor as they prep, strip and attach milkers. In automated milking, it is important to develop daily routines to monitor those milk quality control points in other ways. 

Klebsiella is a gram-negative bacteria that can cause severe clinical mastitis in dairy cows. If they survive the illness, cows are often culled due to low milk production. This article describes some common ways Klebsiella is transmitted from the environment to teats and strategies on how to prevent Klebsiella mastitis cases on your farm.

The parlor is a critical place on a dairy to have productivity and efficiency dialed in 365 days a year. When it comes to leveling up your parlor output, audits are a helpful tool in finding ways to fine-tune and uncover areas for improvement that drive milk harvest success – ultimately impacting the dairy’s bottom line. 

Knowing the classification of a mastitis case can help you choose which animals to treat, saving you money and improving judicious antibiotic use.