A42-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 20, 1993 Lower SCC By Overall Management, Not Just Treatment, Says Specialist CONNIE LEINBACH Berks Co. Correspondent LEESPORT (Berks Co.) —The best way to fight mastitis is to man* age your way out, not treat your way out, said a Penn State Exten tion dairy science specialist. Steve Spencer spoke on ways dairy farmers can lower their somatic cell counts at a recent Dairy Day seminar held here in the Berks County Agriculture Center. Spencer advocated this course of action because, he said, mastitis is virtually impossible to eliminate once it has infected a herd. Dairy farmers have a greater incentive to lower their SCC because, as of July 1, the standard will be reduced from 1 million to 750,000 SCC. ■But more than government reg ulation as an incentive to lick this problem, a high somatic cell count reduces milk production, said Dr. CARLISLE (Cumberland Co.) The Cumberland County Cooperative Extension Associa tion held their annual meeting last week and re-elected Rosemarie Peiffer, New Cumberland, Presi dent, and Stephanie Chertok of Carlisle, Secretary. Dr. Eugene Hoefert of Carlisle was elected Vice President Rosemarie Peif fer, President expressed the appre ciation of the Board to the retiring Directors including Owen McCul loch and Richard Smith of New ville; Ronald Souder and Lynn Wingert of Mechanicsburg; and Chris Renner of Carlisle. Mar garet Smith of Newville, and Wayne Baker of Shippensburg, received the A.A. Raudabaugh Memorial Award in recognition for their leadership and services to the community. President Peiffer welcomed the newly elected directors including Kendra Byers, Gretchen Naugle, 2533 OLD PULA, PIKE, RL 340, SmolMown, PA 3 lilts East e( Lsnestttr Tuts, Thun. I FrL 10-8; Wtd. 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So there’s more money to be made when this problem is kept under control. Spencer explained that mastitis is caused by two types of bacteria contagious and environmental. By far, the contagious varieties streptococcus agalactiae, or strep ag, and staphlococcus arueus are the most common and difficult to eliminate. These are the bacteria that cause high SCC, he said. “When these organisms invade the udder, SCC goes up,” Spencer said. And since most dairy fanners Cumberland Extension Holds Margret Smith, left, also received the A.A Raudabaugh Memorial award from Rosemarie Peiffer, president. and Larry Yorlets of Carlisle; and Roy Snoke and Galen Karper of Shippensburg. Extension program highlights included: 4-H Science STRATFORD State of the art Coal Stoves at Stainless Steel Swimming Pod* • Qr**nhbu*a» Bam* • MUkhoun* OHlcm • Butin*** Plan* must contend with mastitis-, Spencer gave several useful poin ters in managing it Post-dipping with a germicide will do the most to controlling con tagious bacteria, he said. “There’s no other practice that comes close to controlling mastitis than with post-dipping,” he said. This practice will control mastitis by SO percent, he said. The next best practice is culling cows with staph aureus, he said. “It’s very final, but a good, stiff culling program has a lot of merit,” he said, especially if the cow has mastitis in all four quarters. “That’s a road cow,” he said. If a cow with mastitis produces a lot of milk, segregating her from the others and milking her last and with her own equipment may be a way to manage her infection. 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Back flushing, studies have shown, also has been disappointing in fighting contagious organisms and is no help in fighting environmental ones, he said. Spencer also noted that nutrition plays a big part in keeping cows healthy. “If they aren’t fed right, this lowers their resistance,” he said. “Healthy cows are well-fed cows,” he said. Farmers should be sure cows have selenium in their diets. Annual Meeting Wayne Baker received the A.A. Raudabaugh Memorial Award from Roaemarie Peiffer. Programs - Alan Michael. “Agri culture in Poland,” a presentation by Larry Yager, Penn State Area Marketing Agent proved to be a We Stock Truckloads Of Chore-Time Bins & Miles Of Chore-Time FLEX-AUGER Bins... Large Or Small Authorized Master Distributor s OF 7:30-4:30 SM. 7:30-11:30 Cows should be prepared prop erly before they are milked, he said. Keep regulators clean and well maintained. And keeps cows’ udders dry before putting the machines on, because water cre ates a favorable environment for bacteria. He noted that SCCs can’t get too low. In Denmark, he said, the max imum SCC is 250,000 and in Italy it’s 200,000. In his talk, Ford discussed the costs fanners incur fighting masti tis as opposed to culling and replacing cows. For example, in fighting masti tis, farmers pay for medicine, vet erinarians. discarded milk, labor, and early replacements. According to a study he did, the estimated cost of treating a cow with mastitis vs. replacing her was (Turn to Page A 43) very interesting and educational program. Lany just returned from a six-month educational assign ment in Poland. Custom Applications FOR FREE ESTIMATES CALL OUR TOLL-FREE CUSTOMER ' SERVICSNUMBER:
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