A2O-Unca*ter Farming, Saturday, January 3,1987
Virginians Take Cell
BY JULIE GOCHENOUR
Virginia Correspondent
PENN LAIRD, Va. Large or
small, commercial or registered,
Virginia dairyman take somatic
cell counts and mastitis control in
their herds seriously. Even those
with the lowest numbers in the
state take nothing for granted,
each practicing a stringent
management program tailored to
their operation.
No one more so than Eldon
Rhodes. Rhodes owns and operates
Hideaway Dairy, a 78 head com
mercial operation just west of
Harrisonburg. On DHIA reports, 92
percent of Rhodes’ Holsteins test
less than 142,000 cells per cow, and
with a 1.2 percent herd average,
the Mennonite dairyman has the
lowest cell count in the state.
“You just have to look up and be
thankful; next year you never
know what will happen and that’s
the way I look at it,” he explains.
“Even if I do all the same things
this coming year, I might be on the
bottom of the stack 12 months from
now,” Rhodes laughs.
While giving Providence credit
where credit is due, Rhodes admits
he and his family work hard at
keeping their cell counts low.
“Anytime you start talking about
somatic cell count, everyone will
say you have to pay strict attention
to your equipment and make sure
your pulsation is right. As far as
our facilities are concerned, we
were outdated 20 years ago. We
have a single three-side open stalls
with three univalve units,” he
adds.
“One thing that I think is quite
important,” Rhodes emphasizes,
“Is finding a teat dip that covers
the bacteria that you relate to, the
particular bugs on your farm. It
might be coliform, it might be
strep, e. coli, staph all farms are
going to have that but you need
to find a tip dip that gives you a
broad base,” he says, speaking
from experience. “About 10 years
ago I wanted to get away from the
iodine based dips so we changed
and within 30 days went to a 400,000
count.” It took him two months to
reverse the problem, he recalls,
»pei /ay vairy near
Harrisonburg. This year he recorded the lowest somatic cell
countin Virginia with a count of 142,000 per cow.
Harrisonburg farm. Pictured with Rhodes are, from left,
Clinton, Eldon, Loren and Rosella. Missing from the photo is
Darwin. The milk truck driver is Bill Myers.
Stringent Management Keys Success
and he still uses an iodine based
dip today.
Rhodes also admits to being a
little old fashioned in the milking
parlor. “I like to let the cows drip a
short while after I wash them
before I even dry them. If a cows
comes in real dirty, we’ll wash her
as clean as possible and then she
might stand for a minute before I
dry her. Then if it happens to take
three towels to get her dry, use
three towels before you put the
units on.”
The Mennonite and is family do
all their own milking and keep a
close watch for any early signs of a
problem. “It’s something we and
the children make a conscious
effort of,” he explains, noting that
flare ups often occur “like
bananas, in bunches,” due to
changes in everything from rations
to the weather. Close visual checks
almost always turn up the
problems and Rhodes likes to
begin treatment at the first sign of
trouble.
The history of the cow often
predetermines the treatment.
“Through past experience you
learn one cow will respond to a
drug while another one won’t. We
do use one product my supplier
kids me about, saying I’m the only
one in the area who uses it and he
stocks it just from me.
“It’s not antibiotic, it’s a
somatostaph. If a cow comes in
with a swollen quarter a lot of
times that will take care of it with
no discard or other treatment.
Costwise, if you figure out what it’s
going to cost to dump milk, you’re
much further ahead (to use it) if
the cow is going to respond- ’ ’
Controlling mastitis also means
controlling costs, Rhodes points
out. Not only does less milk have to
be dumped, but less farm income
goes for veterinarian services and
mastitis medicine. Furthermore,
he notes, the more problem a cow
has with mastitis, the less
productive she becomes and the
more expensive to maintain.
Some cell count is beneficial,
however, he notes. “In the past I
have had individual months that
we’ve gotten down to .5 or .6 and in
Counts, Mastitis Control Seriously
discussing it with my veterinarian,
he warned me to be careful, that
you actually want enough somatic
cell count there that the cows are
basically building antibiodies
that if you get it too low, it’s like a
person without any immunity
toward disease. Most often that’s
not the case where you need to be
concerned,” he laughs, “But there
is that possibility, as my
veterinarian pointed out. ”
Controlling somatic cell count
benefits both the dairyman and his
herd, but there’s more to it than
that, Rhodes believes. “It also
gives you a sense of personal
satisfaction to know you’re
producing a quality product,” the
farmer adds.
“We like to use a standard on the
farm. If we can’t drink it, we’re not
interested in putting it in the tank
for someone else to drink. Con
sequently, we’re very conscious of
the quality of our product. The
higher somatic cell count you’ve
got, the more mastitis problem
you’ve got, and who wants to drink
that,” he asks.
At Maple Lane Farm just down
the road from Hideaway, Tom
Kegley and his son-in
law/herdsman, Bill Link, also
believe low somatic cell count
reflects on the quality of job they
do of dairying. Their 145 head of
commercial Holsteins have a
rolling herd average of ap
proximately 20,100 pounds of milk
with 690 pounds of fat and 605
pounds of protein. Ninety-three
percent of their herd tests below
142,000 somatic cell count for an
overall 1.7 percent average, one of
the best in the state.
According to Link, achieving low
somatic cell counts depends on
many factors. “I think it’s kind of
like a puzzle with a lot of blocks
stacked uplike a pyramid
starting in the parlor. You have to
get the cows clean and you have to
get the cows dry. Then you have to
maintain your equipment on top of
that. We have a contract with our
dealer and they come out twice a
year and go over our whole
system. And Tom knows that if
they’re not here, I start raising
can.”
The herdsman believes that it's a
whole lot easier to stop a problem
in the early stages than after it
progresses. Two years ago he put
in a new pulsation and changed the
vacuum, favorably affecting his
cell count. He also clips his herd
twice a year, making them easier
to clean and dry, and will cull a
cow for re-occuring mastitis.
Cows coming into the Maple
Lane double-eight herringbone
parlor are hosed and washed down
and then dried with paper towels
before an iodine dip is used “If we
have 130 cows in the parlor, we
may treat one cow a month,” Link
estimates. “We seem to have
outbreaks in the late summer when
the fly population is heaviest. We’ll
send some cultures to the state lab
once in awhile,” he adds.
Link usually waits to treat a cow
until she shows clinical signs of
mastitis and relies on DHIA
reports as well as parlor ob
servations. “We treat mostly with
cephrin and that seems to work
well here. Coliforms we treat
differently, using a gentacin
product.” Lake Rhodes, Link also
treats every quarter of every cow
he’s drying off, but he switches
products every 12 to 18 or 24
months to keep any immunity from
building up.
“It works for us and if it ain’t
broke, don’t fix it,” Regley grins.
“I don’t know if I’m right, but you
don’t argue with success.
“As far as I’m concerned, the
main benefit of low somatic cell
count is milking cows you don’t
have to doctor all of the time,”
Kegley continues. “It’s a whole lot
nicer to go to the bam when you
don’t have a whole lot of cows to
treat,” his son-in-law agrees. The
jgley (l ) v
his son, Steve, (right) and son-in-law/herdsman Bill Link to
maintain one of the lowest cell counts in Virginia.
help in the milking parlor is essential to maintaining low
counts. Here milker Bobby Hoelzel prepares a cow for
milking.
dairymen also note that they get
10-to-15 percent more milk from a
cow with an unscarred udder and
don’t have to dump treated milk as
frequently.
These results don’t come easily
though. “You have to do
everything right,” Link admits.
“You have to do your job of
milking cows right, sanitation
right, not only in the parlor but in
the bam. You’ve got to keep your
bam clean,” he says. “Our bam is
scraped Christmas day, Sundays
or if we have the flu we scrape
once a day and the bam is bedded
every two weeks with shredded
straw. It doesn’t happen by ac
cident.”
That’s why they emphasize
mastitis control at Maple Lane,
Link says. “It’s just part of a sound
management program that in
cludes herd health and
reproduction. They’re all tied
together and if you’re weak in one,
it takes away from the others,
including income."
“It gets back to one thing,”
Kegley adds. “If you aren’t going
to take care of the details in one
area, you’re not going to do the
proper things in the others. And the
first thing you know, your
management has going to hell. And
that’s what it comes down to
management. As far as somatic
cell count and mastitis is con
cerned, I think mechanization,
maintenance, sanitation and
dedication have as much to do with
it as anything. And the young
people running this operation have
it all together,” he concludes,
indicating his son, Steve, and Bill
Link.
Another young dairyman suc
cessfully controlling his somatic
cell count is Bemie Frye in
neighboring Shenandoah County.
With 89 percent of his herd testing
below 142,000, Frye is among the
top seven scoring herds in Virginia
and also has a 1.7 percent average.
Frye admits being surprised his
count is among the top in Virginia.
“It must be luck,” he laughs, “And
that I’m there for all of the
milkings.”
Careful preparation is one area
Frye deems essential to control
somatic cell count. “We’re real
strict on preparing the cows before
we milk them; we’ve been pre
dipping for several years, not in
the sense that they recommend
pre-dipping but we always wash
the cows first and then pre-dip.
Very important anything we get
wet, we get dry. If you leave
wetness, it’s a better environment
for bacteria to grow.”
Frye uses a dip with a
chlcrohexadine base. The dip also
includes coconut oil to improve the
skin tone of the udder. “It smells
good and they’re ladies too,” he
grins. In addition to visual checks
at milking, Frye also massages the
udders and will use a C.M.T.
paddle as well. “I use it oc
casionally or if I suspect a cow is
beginning to develop a problem.
That can confirm a case before
they get real bad. “It’s a way of
checking in between DHIA visits.”
The dairyman considers mastitis
to be a problem in his herd, despite
his relatively low cell count.
“Anybody that thinks they can
eliminate mastitis altogether is
crazy, I think you can keep it very
well under control, but it’s like the
common cold, you can’t eliminate
it. We probablyv have more cases
of clinical mastitis than a lot of
herds because with a low somatic
cell count, you have a low
resistance and the cows either get
it or they don’t there’s no in
between.
“We’ll usually treat anything at
the first sign of sub-clinical
development that’s where the
paddle comes in before they
become clinically positive or you
can really tell.” Treatment varies
depending on the severity of the
care, and ii the flare-up doesn’t
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