Paul Virkler

Klebsiella mastitis: Stop it before it starts

Careful monitoring of the milking parlor, cow traffic areas, freestall management, teat disinfectant, teat skin health, vaccinations and nutrition can aid in fighting against Klebsiella mastitis.

December 13, 2024

Angela Rowson and Paul Virkler

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.

Vacuum testing at milking provides results to avoid milking machine-induced mastitis

Proper evaluation of milking equipment function will help determine if the milking equipment is a risk for machine-induced mastitis.

March 20, 2023

Rick Watters and Paul Virkler

Evaluating claw vacuum during peak milk flow and graphing pulsators are two common tests that are often completed at milking time.

How to approach a high bacteria count on your farm

October 7, 2021

Lisa Ford and Paul Virkler

High bacteria counts in your bulk tank milk can be very frustrating to all parties involved. In today’s milk market, these higher bacteria counts can also jeopardize your milk quality premium, as many cooperatives have bundled the different tests together.

Klebsiella mastitis – More than just another gram-negative

July 28, 2021

Paul Virkler

Klebsiella is becoming a more commonly isolated mastitis-causing organism on dairy farms across the Northeast.

Optimize the retraction event for milking units

July 19, 2021

Paul Virkler

Have you ever noticed that on some dairies, milking units are not as clean as on other dairies? Some of this may be related to how often they are cleaned, but there can be other factors at play as well.

Keep your cows happy at milking time

July 18, 2019

Paul Virkler and Lee Pratt

With all the things going on around your dairy, have you ever thought about whether cows actually like being milked? How would you know if they were happy or unhappy with the milking process?

Monitoring your milking center with electronic records

February 7, 2019

Paul Virkler and Rick Watters

It still amazes us when we get onto a dairy that has all their milking data at the push of a button but is not using any of it.

Make daily milking center maintenance checks part of milk quality routine

April 18, 2018

Paul Virkler

Harvesting high-quality milk involves interactions among humans, cows, milking equipment and the environment. Implementing and training staff on milking routine standard operating procedures can influence the outcome, but efforts in the parlor shouldn’t end there.

Manage teat dip products to prevent dry teat skin

January 18, 2018

Chris Elliott and Paul Virkler

Skin can chap due to frequent washing, repeated wetting or exposure to cold, dry or windy weather. Teats are subjected to these processes during every milking. Teat dips with effective emollient packages can rejuvenate dry teats. Skin conditioners come in many varieties.

Teat skin condition matters

September 29, 2017

Chris Elliott and Paul Virkler

Sometimes it is amazing to think about how much hinges on the four teats of the dairy cow. If a teat is damaged or destroyed, we potentially lose the milk from that quarter or, worse yet, with a severe infection we lose the whole cow.

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Paul Virkler

ARTICLES

Klebsiella mastitis: Stop it before it starts

Vacuum testing at milking provides results to avoid milking machine-induced mastitis

How to approach a high bacteria count on your farm

Klebsiella mastitis – More than just another gram-negative

Optimize the retraction event for milking units

Keep your cows happy at milking time

Monitoring your milking center with electronic records

Make daily milking center maintenance checks part of milk quality routine

Manage teat dip products to prevent dry teat skin

Teat skin condition matters

Class III-IV gap widens to largest spread since 2020

Stay informed about New World screwworm

Data-driven work done right

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