Dealing with mastitis isn’t about magic bullets and quick fixes. It’s about knowing how the culprit bacteria work and creating a management plan to combat them. Fortunately, with Strep ag we know a great deal about the bacteria and we know that simple remedies work well as long as they are applied consistently. It is the only mastitis-causing bacteria that can be reliably eradicated from dairy farms.

For success with eradicating Strep ag, you need to have both a treatment strategy and a control strategy. Don’t cut corners and opt for either treatment or control–one without the other simply doesn’t work. And everyone involved in milking on the farm has to be clear about the plan and their individual responsibilities within it.

Stuart Hodge is currently working towards eliminating Strep ag in his 1000 cow herd at Numurkah in northern Victoria.

“We needed a carefully thought out plan that would be understood by all the milking team,” said Stuart. “We decided to go with an isolation policy where we ran separate clean and dirty herds. The clean herd was always milked first. And we aimed to get all our cows into the clean herd within about six months with Dry Cow Treatment and some strategic treatment in lactation.”

“We knew that would be tricky with milking three times a day but we thought we could do it. The key was to have absolutely everyone sure of what had to be done and why.”

All staff members on the farm met with the advising veterinarian to learn about how the bug infected the cows, and how the biology of the teat end worked to protect it from infection.

About a week later they met again to make a plan for the farm that would work in practice.

Six months later and the mastitis story on the Hodge’s farm has turned around for the first time in years. Bulk Milk Cell Counts have decreased dramatically and clinical mastitis cases have dropped from 20 per week to 3 or 4 per week .

This farm’s story shows that with a well-advised plan, you have a very good chance of eradicating Strep ag from your herd. Part of that plan has to be enthusiastic staff participation, with everyone knowing not only what they have to do, but more importantly, why they have to do it.

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“Mastitis was always on the simmer . . . things had to change”
Stuart Hodge (left) with his Operations Manager, Chris Cameron

Countdown Downunder Farm Guideline or Technote
Guidelines 13, 22, 33.

Keywords
Streptococcus agalactiae  infection control, teamwork,

Word length
392