Mastitis Mumbo Jumbo Cleared Up
C.W. HEALD
Extension Dairy Specialist
Mastitis, infection/infectious,
acute, clinical, subclinical, conta
gious, environmental, cell counts,
and bacteria: these are toms often
used when talking about udder
problems that can cause some
confusion when used incorrectly.
Germs that cause mastitis are
considered infectious bacteria.
Average Farm Feed
Costs For Handy
Reference
To help farmers across the state
to have handy reference of com
modity input costs in their feeding
operations for DHIA record sheets
or to develop livestock feed cost
data, here’s this week’s average
costs of various ingredients as
compiled from regional reports
across the state of Pennsylvania.
Remember these are averages so
you will need to adjust your figures
up or down according to your loca
tion and the quality of your crop.
Own, No. 2y - 2,37 BU. 4.24
CWT.
Wheat, No. 2 - 2.61 BU. 4.36
CWT.
Barley, No. 3 - 2.01 BU. 4.30
CWT.
Oats, No. 2-1,36 BU. 4.24
CWT.
Soybeans, No. 1 - 5.37 BU. 8.97
CWT.
New Ear Com - 55.48 BU. 2.77
CWT.
Old Ear Com - 71.79 BU 3.59
CWT.
Alfalfa Hay - 110.00 BU. 5.50
CWT.
Mixed Hay - 91.00 BU. 4.55
CWT.
Timothy Hay - 93.00 BU. 4.65
CWT.
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Some have a greater ability to
cause illness than others and are
terms highly infectious, others are
mildly infectious, and a few are
opportunistic bacteria which rare
ly cause an infection.
Mastitis is confirmed by testing
for the presence of bacteria in the
udder. Bacteria are found in the
udder by taking less than a drop of
cow’s milk and incubating it onto
a media made from blood and agar
for 48 hrs. Growth of bacteria
indicate that the cow has bacteria
in her udder, is infected, and the
udder infection is called mastitis.
Strep, ag is considered highly
infectious. Pseudomonas is rarely
found and is considered poorly
infectious.
In a similar fashion, dairy plants
place small amounts of bulk tank
milk on special media, incubate
the plates, and then count the
number of bacteria. These are
called standard plate counts or cell
counts and refer to the number of
bacteria present in bulk tank milk.
The quality of milk handling
and storage conditions are mea
sured this way and for the most
part are unrelated to mastitis.
These bacteria counts are unre
lated to somatic cell counts but
the two counts arc often confused
because they both use the unit cell
count/ml.
Somatic cells are mostly white
blood cells from the cows’ blood
that are sent to the milk to fight
infections. Bacterial infections of
Evenings
Call 1-800-DHI-TEST for service or information.
the udder cause large numbers of
white blood cells to enter the milk
in the udder and in turn raise the
somatic cell count of milk. The
more toxic the infection or the
more numerous the bacteria the
higher the cell count.
Contagious mastitis is repre
sented by Strep ag. and Staph,
aureus which are spread from
infected cows by milkers’ hands,
wash cloths, milking equipment
(Turn to I Pago A 26)
How Does Your Herd Compare?
STATE COLLEGE (Centre Co.) —This data is Walue for CWT Silage(s) 1.52
pulled from Pennsylvania DHIA’s mainframe Walue for Pasture Per Day(s) .30
computer each week. It is a one-week summary Walue for Milk Per Cow Per
representing approximately one-fourth of the Year(s) 2,524
herds on test, as they are tested monthly. Weed Consumed Per Cow Per
These data are valuable from a business man- Year(Lbs)
agement standpoint and can be used for compar- A: Grain 6.812
ing your operations to the averages from almost B: Hay 2,645
1,400 herds across the state. C: Silage 14,688
DHIA Averages for all herds processed between Pasture , c 68
12/03/90 and 12/10/90 t , OA *Fecd Cost Per Cow Per Year(s)
Number of Herds Processed 548
Number of Cows Processed 83 ’°7, c \ -..J
Number of Cows Per Herd 56 -J d- 2?
Per Cow (Lbs) 17^ 133 Feed Cost Per Cow Per
SpL er COW W 3a9 522. Over Feed Costs Per 909
Protein Per Cow (Lbs) SS? to Milk Ratio \fls
Average Days m MiUc Per Cow *Fecd Cost Per CWT Milk(s) 5.31
sstcKgs, ‘I »?**** ««
Walue for CWT Hay(s)
IAttMAIV'tWOFVMU
—o
Unciftr Fuming, Saturday, Dactmber 22,1M0-A25
National DHIA
Adopts Position
COLUMBUS, Ohio
“National DHIA recognizes that
inequities exist in the present
funding of DHIA data collection,”
says J. Robert Kindig, president
“In order for DHIA to remain
current with rapidly advancing
technology, it is necessary for
allied industry to recognize the
value of these data,” adds Kindig.
At an early December meeting
the National DHIA Board adopted
the following position statement:
“Sufficient additional income
must be generated to equitably
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