[On screen text: Top Farmers Know-How.

Prevent mastitis during lactation]

Hi, and welcome to top farmers know-how, I'm Sean.

[On screen text: Sean Daly, MSD animal health veterinarian]

Mastitis reduces milk production, milk quality and animal wellbeing, costing you time and
money. In this video, we'll cover off how to prevent and monitor mastitis during lactation after
calving is over. Improving our milking routine can help us prevent mastitis from occurring. The
aim of milking is to remove milk quickly and efficiently without stressing the cows, damaging
their teats, or introducing mastitis causing bacteria into the teat ends.

As a general rule, if you have more than 5% of cows acting unsettled during milking or kicking
off the cups, it is an indication that you could improve your milking routine. Here's a brief
review of the basics.

[On screen text: Prevent mastitis: Minimize cow stress]

The first step is to bring the cows into the shed in a stress-free manner. Try not to push cows
to make them move faster on the lane or squeeze them into the yards with the backing gate. If
cows aren't getting to the shed in time for milking, you can let them out of the paddock earlier,
so that they can move at their own pace.

[On screen text: Prevent mastitis: Minimize cow stress, Keep udders clean]

Research has shown that mastitis risk increases with poor udder hygiene, so keeping tracks
well maintained and yards clean will also help prevent mastitis. Cups should only be applied to
clean, dry teats. Wipe dirty teats with a dry paper towel before applying the cups. Of course, it
is preferable to prevent teats from becoming dirty, rather than having to clean them in the
shed. Always wear gloves during milking and clean or change your gloves when they become
dirty or covered with milk, to minimize the spread of mastitis in the shed.

[On screen text: Prevent mastitis: Minimize cow stress, Keep udders clean, Apply & remove
cups effectively]

Cup cows up in a calm and consistent manner, allowing minimal air entry into the milk line.
When a cow is finished milking, remove the cups by cutting off the vacuum, allowing them to
drop off by gravity. Don't pull them off with physical force. Effective teat-spraying after milking
is the most important thing you can do to prevent mastitis.
[On screen text: Prevent mastitis: Minimize cow stress, Keep udders clean, Apply & remove
cups effectively, Teat spray effectively]

At the end of milking, all cows should be sprayed with commercial teat spray product. Mix it
according to the label instructions with clean water every two to three days. For hand spray,
apply 20 mils of solution per cow. Increase the volume to 30 mils per cow if you use an
automatic teat sprayer. However, you apply teat spray, it is important to check that you are
achieving adequate coverage of the entire teat.

[On screen text: Damaged teat end]

Mastitis causing bacteria into the udder through open teat ends and if the teat ends are
damaged infection is much more likely. Keep an eye on teat condition through lactation.

[On screen text: Prevent mastitis: Minimize cow stress, Keep udders clean, Apply & remove
cups effectively, Teat spray effectively, Manage teat end condition]

If you notice a lot of rough teat ends, this could indicate the vacuum is too high or that the
cups are staying on too long, leading to over-milking.

[On screen text: Prevent mastitis: Minimize cow stress, Keep udders clean, Apply & remove
cups effectively, Teat spray effectively, Manage teat end condition, Prevent overmilking]

Over-milking is much more likely to cause mastitis than under milking. Studies have shown that
up to 500 mils of milk can remain in the udder without increasing somatic cell count. So, rough
teats may indicate that you need to remove cap sooner. This will also help with cow flow and
milking speed. If you're not sure about teat end condition, teat-spraying or over-milking in
your shed, you can get your shed and milking routine cheeked by a milk-quality expert. They'll
be able to help you adjust the routine to suit the cows.

[On screen text: Prevent mastitis: Minimize cow stress, Keep udders clean, Apply & remove
cups effectively, Teat spray effectively, Manage teat end condition, Prevent overmilking,
Maintain the milking shed]

In addition to perfecting your milking routine, it's important to keep the shed well maintained
and to remember to change your liners after two and a half thousand cow milkings. There are
calculators available online, which makes setting a date for liner change really easy. For more
information on the milk plant and shed maintenance visit Dairy New Zealand's Healthy Udder
website or contact the milk-quality expert for advice.
Even when you're not in the shed, you can use several monitoring tools to get an overview of
mastitis on your farm. Your bulk milk somatic cell count is the easiest to watch. A sudden spike
in cell count could indicate that a clinical case has slipped into the vet. A gradual increase over
a few weeks or months could indicate a contagious mastitis problem is developing.

[On screen text: Monitor mastitis: Bulk milk SCC:<150,000 cells/ml 1]

Top herds keep their bulk milk somatic cell count below 150,000.

[On screen text: Monitor mastitis: Bulk milk SCC:<150,000 cells/ml 1, Herd test or RMT]

If you're bulk milk cell count is rising, you can conduct a herd test or RMT the herd to identify
those individual cows that are responsible for the increase. Talk with your vet or milk quality
consultant if you're unsure what the changes in your bulk milk cell count are telling you.

[On screen text: Monitor mastitis: Bulk milk SCC:<150,000 cells/ml 1, Herd test or RMT, Clinical
cases: <1/ 100 cows/month post calving]

Your clinical case records are another great monitoring tool. SmartSAMM recommends that if
you have more than one clinical case of mastitis per 100 cows milking per month outside of
calving, it's time to ring your vet or milk-quality consultant. There are so many moving parts to
the milking routine and many different ways to check that things are running smoothly.

Hopefully the best practice tips we've talked about in this video are useful references for you
this season. Check out our other top farmers videos on mastitis and dry off to learn more.

[On screen text: Top Farmers Know-How, Other videos in this series]