Al6-Lancast«r Fannins, Saturday, July 5,1986
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Reducing Somatic
Cell Counts
As of July 1, the “action level”
for somatic cell counts was
reduced from 1.5 million to 1
million. Shippers, whose milk
exceeds this 1 million count, run
the risk of losing their milk
market. But, that should not be the
only reason why you want to keep
your cell counts low.
High cell counts also mean you
are losing milk production; that’s
lost income. The reason for this
loss is, infectious organisms are
destroying milk secreting cells in
the cow’s udder. Many of those
damaged cells will not be repaired
until the cow is in her dry period.
Then, it may be repaired only if the
dry udder is relatively free of
infection and if the udder tissue is
not too severely scarred.
Very little udder repair occurs
during lactation. That’s why cows
once cured, seldom ever return to
full production during that same
lactation.
At what levels of cell counts do
the biggest production losses oc
cur? Contrary to what you might
think, it’s at the lower levels!
Studies show these approximate
losses in production at different
levels of cell counts.
Production losses start to occur
at SCC levels as low as 100,000.
Note that every time SCC levels
double, you lose another 1.5 pounds
Approximate
SCC
Level
100,000
200,000
400.000
800.000
1,600,000
P. L. ROHRER & BRO.. INC.
Smoketown. Pa
Daily
Pipeline
By
Glenn A. Shirk
i Extension
Dairy
Agent
of milk per cow per day. That’s lost
income an expense you don’t
see, just feel.
That is why you don’t see much
improvement in production when
you reduce a high count of 1.6
million down to .8 million or a 1
million count down to .5 million.
That sounds like a big drop, but at
these high levels these big drops
may improve production by only
1.5 pounds—hardly noticeable.
But don’t give up at this point;
you are headed in the right
direction. If you continue to stick
with a good mastitis prevention
and control program you might be
able to drop the count down to the
100,000 to 200,000 level. This second
drop of 600,000 to 700,000 may
result in an additional increase in
production of 3.0 to 4.5 pounds of
milk; that’s two to three times as
great as that first drop from those
real high levels.
Know Thy Enemy
To conduct an effective mastitis
prevention and control program,
and to make more effective and
efficient use of your time and
dollars, know your enemy (the
infectious organisms), and plan to
attack them on all fronts
simultaneously. Culturing will help
you identify the organisms in
volved. Basically they fall into two
general categories, contagious and
environmental.
The contagious group spreads
from cow to cow at milking time.
Production Loss per Day
Incremental Cumulative
1.5 1.5
1.5 3.0
1.5 4.5
1.5 6.0
1.5 7.5
The two main culprits in this group
are: streptococcus agalactiae
(strep ags) and staphylcoccus
aureus (staph).
Strep ags are fairly easy to
control. The only place they can
survive well is in the cow’s udder.
So, once you’ve eliminated it from
all the udders, strep ag infections
are fairly easy to prevent.
Staph organisms, on the other
hand, can invade udder tissue,
become deep seated, and cause
cysts; they are more difficult to
control. Chronic staph cows that
fail to respond to treatment should
be culled so they won’t serve as
seeds of infection for other cows.
Another nasty and very con
tagious organism is mycoplasam.
There is no cure for this organism.
The best solution is culling infected
cows. Fortunately, the incidence of
mycoplasam has been very small.
The second category of
organisms is the environmental
type. It consists primarily of
coliform and streptococcus non
agalactiae (strep non ags). They
thrive in warm, moist filthy areas
dirty stall beds, sloppy lots,
filthy udders, etc. Tliey are more
of a problem during periods of wet,
hot and muggy weather. It is also
the type of infection cows may pick
up around calving time.
The two most common coliforms
are escherichia coli (E. coli) and
klebsiella. E. coli are generally
associated with manure. Kleb
siella is associated with saw dust
bedding. Some coliform bacteria
are very toxic and fast acting;
udders can become hot and hard
overnight, production can drop to
near zero, and unless the cow is
treated immediately toxins from
the bacteria can be fatal to the
cow.
The information below was
developed from a chart used by
Ph: 717-299-2571
SOLID STEEL GESTATION STALL
Manufactured By
Tri-County Swine Systems
SURPRISE FEEDING SYSTEM
Designed And
Manufactured By
Tri-Co. Swine Systems
SPECIAL SALE PRICES THRU JULY
We Will
Custom Manufacture
To Your
Specifications
Penn State Extension
Veterinarian, Lawrence Hut
chinson. I thought it was an ef
fective way of showing which
practices are most effective
against certain types of infections.
It may help you target your efforts
more effectively.
Three Ring Circus
For a mastitis prevention and
control program to be effective,
you need to focus your efforts on
three major areas at once; 1. the
infectious organism, 2. the cow,
Clean, Dry Surroundings
Maternity Area
Lots and Alleys
Stalls
Udders (teats)
Teat Dipping:
Barrier Dips
Pre Dips
Germicidal Dips
Cow Towels - Disposable
Back Flushing
Segregate Infected Cows
Cull Chronic Cows
Dry Treating
Treating Clinical Cases
Loops in Teats
Milking Practices
Complete Milkout
-good technique
-oxytocin
Infected Cows Last
Frequent Milking
Pre-milk Leakers
Maintain Cow’s Resistance
Nutrition & Health
Se&Vit. E
Cow Comfort
Stall Beds
Milking Equipment
Installation
Maintenance
Operation
LESS STRESS
FOR HOGS & MAN
MANUAL TRIP
FOR EACH ROW
LESS WEAR ON
EQUPMENT
STAINLESS STEEL
GESTATION TROUL
FOR CLEANLINESS
AND LONGER LIFE
and 3. the environment in which
the organism thrives and the
avenues by which they spread to
the cow.
Eliminating current infections
helps to give the udder an op
portunity to heal and it reduces a
source of infection for other cows.
Culturing and treating plus
complete and frequent milkouts
will help. It is hard to rid cows of
infection by treating during lac
tation. The best opportunity is to
treat during the dry period.
Effectiveness Of Procedures
Contagious Environmental
Yes
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Yes?
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• 1” SOLID STEEL FRAME
• y 4” PLATE STEEL FLOOR
TABS
• SLOPING FRONT
•5/8” VERTICAL ROD
• TOP HINGE FRONT GATE
• REAR GATE TWO WAY
SWING
Weight Per Unit
Complete Stall w/Back & Front
Gate -125 Lbs.
(Turn to Page A 33)
Yes
Yes
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Yes
Yes
Yes?
Yes?
Yes?
Yes
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Yes