{"id":2085,"date":"2021-04-09T04:09:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-09T03:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/develop-hurrah-hurrah.com\/terromu\/com\/?p=2085"},"modified":"2021-04-09T04:09:00","modified_gmt":"2021-04-09T03:09:00","slug":"getting-to-grips-with-mastitis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/terranutritech.com\/2021\/04\/09\/getting-to-grips-with-mastitis\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting to Grips with Mastitis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Animal Welfare on Irish Farms<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

At Terra NutriTECH, we understand that Animal Welfare helps to drive efficiency and productivity on dairy farms. In this blog post, we examine the effects of ‘Mastitis’ and how to stay proactive about tackling the issue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dairy farming is the business of producing high-quality protein in the form of milk. Milk quality is the most important element to successful dairy farming. Minimizing mastitis and milk quality issues becomes a key component of this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Healthy cows producing high-quality milk means we need to focus on reducing mastitis in our dairy herds. With our innovative technology and high-quality minerals, we can play our part in improving milk quality for our customers.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"farmer<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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What is Mastitis?<\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Mastitis<\/a> is inflammation of the udder usually caused by an infection or bacteria. This inflammation and infection cause a number of symptoms. It will directly impact milk quality and can be a significant cost to the cow and your herd performance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first thing we need to do is measure current performance and benchmark it against some key targets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farmers should aim to have<\/em><\/strong> :<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
  1. A herd somatic cell count under 200,000 cells per ml, most farms should aim even lower than this with a target of <150,00 cells per ml. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    1. Farms should have less than 25 cases per 100 cows of clinical mastitis in a yearly lactation cycle in the herd <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
      1. With the first 30 days after calving being a high-risk period, each farm should aim for <8 cases per 100 cows in this first 30 days.  <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
        \"terra<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

        With our customers we support improved animal health through individualized mineral supplementation. With our clients we have seen improvements in milk quality in a number of areas. In freshly calved cows where we have reduced subclinical milk fever the rates of clinical mastitis in the first 30 days have fallen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        We also believe that minerals like copper, zinc and selenium play a key role in immunity which helps milk quality. Better udder health and immunity means a more robust ability to fight off infections.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \"herd<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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        What forms of mastitis affect our herds?<\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

        Mastitis can be largely be categorized in two types; sub-clinical<\/strong> and clinical mastitis.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Sub-clinical <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

        This is mastitis most often not visible and has a huge impact on milk quality. This is where infections in the udder are often more chronic and lead to invasion of somatic cells (white blood cells). This increase in somatic cells reduces production and when they become chronic they can dramatically decrease production and increase culling for mastitis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Most processors apply heavy penalties for persistently high cell counts.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        In Ireland and internationally with the adoption of the mastitis five-point plan in the late 1960s we have seen a dramatic fall in SCC issues in herds. However, it is still a big challenge in many herds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        These infections can be difficult to detect and control involves the use of milk records to identify infected cows. The bugs that cause cell count issues spread from cow to cow during milking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        This means they are a couple of very key elements to getting good control of cell count issues in our dairy herds.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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