DMancastar Fanning Saturday, June 11, 1988
By Joyce Bupp
York Co. Correspondent
KRALLTOWN (York)
Twelve years ago, Ralph McGre
gor made a management decision
he would avoid even telling other
dairy producers about for the next
several years.
The York County dairyman
walked to his bam office supplies
cabinet, pitched out every tube and
bottle of mastitis treatment, and
pledged a firm “No” to using anti
biotics on mammary system
flareups.
Instead, McGregor vowed a
new approach to udder health in
his 102-head milking herd of regis
tered Holsteins. Rather than “shoot
’em up” when swelling and flaki
ness infected udders, McGregor
set out to test a more positive man
agement move. Underpinning this
tactic was a belief that, relieved of
as much environmental and man
made stress as is reasonably possi
ble, the dairy cow can successfully
battle invading mastitic pathogens
without antibiotics.
Attending the 1976 National
Mastitis Council meeting in Louis
ville, Kentucky, McGregor seri
ously weighed the message of a
eg ry
generally less stressed.
Supplies such Si jrtox, udder balms, fly bait and new
inflations now fill office cabinets that once housed an array
of mastitis-treatment antibiotics.'
Mastitis Drugs: Just Say No
speaker on the anatomy of the
mammary system. Everything
about the cow’s mammary system
is designed to safely put milk out
the teatand, including microscopic
hairs inside the teat canal for the
glands’ protection.
“How much harm do we do if
we put something in there that
reconstructs the system, allowing
outside organisms in?” was the
question that haunted McGregor.
Having worked with—and treated
cows since his childhood, the
Kralltown dairyman figured he
had seen no real long-term
improvement in the problem of
mastitis.
Maybe there was a better
approach.
DHIA herd average at Mcßal
Dairy that year on the 102 cows
was 15,370 milk and 566 fat Cull
rate, based on statistical data
McGregor has compiled for his
management comparisons, was at
22 percent. Highest somatic cell
count that year was at 650,000.
Aware that his approach was
veering from the norm, McGregor
kept his mastitis approach pretty
much to himself. Over the next six
years, both herd numbers and herd
average steadily climbed.
By the end of 1983 test year,
DHIA average came in at 151 head
with a 18,635 milk and 668 fat
record. Somatic cell counts ranged
that year from a low 0f207,000 to a
high of 356,000. Cull rate was still
at 22 percent, but had fluctuated
from 19 percent in 1977 to 27 per
cent in 1979, responsive in part to
cull-cow prices.
This continuing upward trend
shows no signs of reversing. The
current milking herd numbers 230
head, with an April DHIA Rolling
Herd Average of 19,530 milk, 724
fat, with a SCC averaging 149,000.
Cull rate for 1987 was 21 percent,
up slightly from 17 percent rate in
both 1985 and 1986.
“We do not need the crutches of
mastitis medicine,” McGregor
firmly insistetd.
Controlling Stress
Instead, proper husbandry and
gentle handling of the dairy herd,
with emphasis on minimizing con
trollable stress factors, are the
basis of McGregor’s mastitis
management techniques. And, ani
mals with a chronic health, breed
ing, hard milk-out or mastitic
prone tendency are soon culled.
“Why keep a problem cow to
milk and breed from?” he
wonders.
McGregor emphasizes that his
milking-housing facility is not
new, nor are all conditiops of the
operations “textbook” ideal. The
16-year-old parlor is a double-four
herringbone, which takes several
hours for each milking to handle
230 head. While milking is a one
person chore, seveq different fami
ly members and employees help as
needed in the parlor. And, herd
size now outstrips freestall capaci
ty, by about 25 percent.
“Our cows are used to anything
and anybody,” McGregor adds
with grin. And, he quickly noted,
they do occasionally flare up with
mastitis.
But, in the last six months, he
and herdsman, Don Dyer, can tally
only two cases of mastitis. One
was an older herd member, which
tramped a teat, and the other a “hot
bug” with swelling.
Both get the routine Mcßal
treatment for flareups; hand strip
ping, at each milking. No tubes.
No shots.
“If everything else is right for a
cow, overcoming a mastitis infec
tion should be like a healthy person
who can fight off a cold naturally
with a little lime. You can fine
tune nutrition, the milking system,
keep the cows clean, and do what
you can to naturally help her do
so.”
That begins at Mcßal Farms
with the handling of the cow and
McGregor’s adherence to the phi
losophy that “every cow is a lady
and should be treated as such.”
Jumpy, nervous cows arc more
stressed, generally favoring masti
tis and higher SCC’s.
“You’ve got to keep a cow trust
ing you, by staying cool, calm and
collected when working with her,”
McGregor teaches employees.
“That means you don’t hoop and
holler to drive cows in a parlor or
when moving them to different
locations.”
Adequate facilities, such as
proper hcadgatcs, alleyways and
loading chutes add to cattle
handling ease. McGregor houses
heifer-age groups at several nearby
facilities, and animals arc moved
to as many as four locations from
weaning to freshening, making
smooth handling techniques an
“My tomahawk . McGregor calls the utility knife he
keeps handy for trimming cow tails. Shorter switches aid In
keeping bacteria and dirt away from teat ends.
important part of general
management.
Sand As Bedding
Soon after the NMC conference,
a vet recommended to McGregor
the use of sand for frcestall bed
ding, over more conventional
materials. Sand drains well, and its
wttgm cuts oown ojrmc idsses
from cow movement. When fresh
sand is added, about every six
weeks, a dusting of hydrated lime
serves as an additional bacterial
deterrent.
An advocate of low milking
lines to avoid the system ineffi
ciencies of lifting milk, McGregor
had lowered parlor lines in 1972.
The two-inch lines installed then
are still in use, though considered
borderline efficient by some
Note: Joyce explained that preparing for the Dairy Month
issue became slightly unbearable at times. For this reason she
sent the above photo.
York County Correspondent
Joyce Bupp
Joyce Bupp has been Lan
caster Farming’s York
Correspondent for 10 years.
She and her husband, Leroy
operate Bupplynn Farms, near
Loganvile, with 200 head of
milking registered Holsteins.
Their children Patty, 18, and
Richard, 15, are actively in
volved in the family farm.
Joyce is a board member of
the Middle Atlantic Divisional
Dairyman, Inc., and the Dairy
Council of the Upper
Chesapeake Bay. She is co
coach of the county’s Junior
Holstein and 4-H Dairy Bowl
milking-system experts.
All water used for udder clean
ing, and in the equipment washup,
is run through a softener. Soften
ing of the naturally hard water
seems to aid in keeping teat ends
soft and pliable, plus perhaps ease
cracking and chapping of workers’
hands, where rough skin could har
ddt ana spreaamasnnc oaciena.
Inflations are regularly changed
every 1,000 milkings, since worn
and cracked rubber in the linen
will also harbor mastitic
pathogens.
Only minimal water, a mere
handful to wet the teats, is used in
pre-milking preparation.
“Many people wash udders like
they’re putting out a fire,” says
(Turn to Pago D 4)
teams. The Bupps are involved
in the Holstein Association, 4-H
and dairy promotion activities.
Holstein News, Holstein
World and Hoard’s Dairyman
are some of the publications
that have printed Joyce’s work.
She received an award from
Women in Communications for
her column, On Being a Farm
Wife. One of her Lancaster
Farming articles also placed
third in a competition hosted by
Penn-Ag Industries.
However, Joyce notes, “The
greatest honors I have are my
kids and my Dairy Bowl Kids.”