How somatic cell counts help
dairymen beat mastitis
MINGOVILLE - Joe Str
inger’s Sand Ridge Farm
looks like the average Penn
sylvania dairy operation.
Metal buildings have replac
ed on old bank barn, cats
wander in and out of a milk
ing shed, and sixty-five
black-and-white Holsteins
stand m the barnyard.
But there’s a difference.
Stringer’s is a prize-winning
herd. It produces large
volumes of high-quality
milk, and few of its cows are
plagued with mastitis, a
bacterial udder infection
that can hold a milker 10 to
15 percent under her poten
tial.
Stringer is one of 5000
dairymen belonging to the
Dairy Herd Improvement
Association, which offers
production testing and other
I HOG PROPUCERSI
♦ " , _
t Get Top Price for
\ Your Hogs at jk Ml
J New Holland f
♦
♦
♦
♦
♦
Sold in sorted lots the auction way. See them
weighed and sold and pick up your check.
SALE EVERY MONDAY - 8:00 A.M.
NEW HOLLAND SALES STABLES, INC.
+ Phone 717-354-4341
♦ Daily market Report - Phone 717-354-7288
♦ Abe Diffenbach, Manager
■
9 AM to ? ? each Day
Directions; Take Rt. 42 north from
Bloomsburg, Pa. approx. 5 miles to sign to
Mordansville, turn right and cross bridge,
proceed 2 miles to Robbins Farms.
Telephone: /®\ {7I7J 866-6581
jpnSgQn
RICHLAND RDI, Pennsylvania 17087
services to upgrade dairy
herds. One program,
somatic cell counting, is per
formed at Penn State’s Cen
tral Milk Testing Laboratory
and helps dairymen identify
cows with mastitis.
Says Stringer, who
farmers near Mingoville in
Centre County, “Often you’ll
have a cow you swear should
be giving more milk. She’ll
look fine, but she just won’t
produce. Sometimes
mastitis is the answer.”
He adds, “The cell pro
gram has been profitable.
Whenever you cut the time
cows are affected by
mastitis, you increase your
output.”
In the last three years, Str
inger’s annual herd average
has jumped from 14,700
pounds of milk per cow to
v«a"w. ,
Saturday & Sunday, March 15 & 16
At Robbins Farm
RD 4, Bloomsburg, PA
(Refreshments)
MANUFACTURERS of
LAMINATED RAFTERS
and WOOD ROOF TRUSSES
17,700 pounds. Part of the
credit, he feels, should go to
DHIA semces, including
somatic ceii counting.
Veterinary scientist Dr.
Robert J. Eberhart directs
SCC research at Penn State.
At the heart of the program
are three somatic cell
counters, complex machines
that count the actual number
of cells in a milk sample.
Each machine can test 180
.2-ml samples per hour. A
sample is diluted, and dye is
added to it.
The dye concentrates in
the nuclei of somatic cells
(body cells, including
infection-fighting leukocytes
and udder tissue cells),
which spread onto a rotating
stainless steel cylinder.
When filtered light shines
on the sample, the dyed cells
fluoresce, and sensitive
devices count them. Cell
counts indicate whether or
not a cow has mastitis: the
more cells, the greater the
probability of infection.
Mastitis strikes glandular
tissue m the udder, reducing
milk quality and output.
Most forms do not affect the
appearance of a cow or her
milk, and until recently
could be identified only by
expensive laboratory
testing. Now somatic cell
counting does the job for
twelve cents per sample.
In Pennsylvania, about a
third of the state’s 15,000
herds Delong to the DHIA.
Each month, the association
checks output of every milk-
♦
♦
♦
♦
mg cow in a participants’s
herd.
A milk sample from each
animal goes to Penn State,
where it is tested for fat con
tent. Now, samples from
72,000 cows in 1,600 herds
also receive SCC screenings.
Says Eberhart, “The
DHIA sends test results back
to the dairyman, telling him
which of his cows are good
producers and which may
have mastitis. If a cow has a
high cell count, the
dairyman monitors her
closely. If the condition
worsens, he takes her off the
Vet Robert Eberhart, right, confers with Centre County dairyman Joe
Stringer. Stringer's is one of about 5000 Pennsylvania herds tested each month
for subclinical mastitis in Penn State's somatic cell counting program.
SEE THIS 90 x 350
CLEAR SPAN BUILDING
Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, March IS, 1590—D27
production line and gives her
antibiotics.
“All cows with Jugh cell
counts should be treated
with antibiotics at the end of
lactation, so they can begin
their next lactation with
infection-free udders,” con
tinues Eberhart.
“In some cases, we recom
mend treating cows in early
lactation on the basis of high
cell counts, but we need
-more data on the value of
such treatment,” he says.
In addition to antibiotics,
mastitis control also in
cludes proper use and
maintenance of milking
machines, and dipping a
cow’s teats in a germicidal
solution after each milking
to kill any bacteria transfer
red from another cow by the
milking machine.
The SCC program went in
to effect statewide in
January, 1978. Before that,
Eberhart, veterinarian
Lawrence J. Hutchinson,
and dairy specialists
Herbert C. Gilmore and
Stephen B. Spencer ran an
18- month study on the pro
gram’s potential, under
Agricultural Experiment
Station funding.
The researchers worked
with DHIA member herds.
Two hundred from Lan
caster and Bradford coun
ties were designated pilot
project herds; their
managers received monthly
cell counts on all cows and
attended meetings on how to
interpret and use SCC data.
Another 200 herds from all
over Pennsylvania were con-
(Turn to Page 030)