- culling is not usually necessary

Strep ag infections in your herd are nasty – Strep ag is highly contagious  - but you don’t need to over react. Fortunately individual cows can be easily treated  by antibiotics and a good management plan can help you eliminate Strep ag from your herd. Culling is usually not necessary.

Cows infected with the bacteria Strep ag have mastitis with increased cell counts or clinical changes such as clots, flecks or watery milk. To control this contagious bug it is important to eliminate infections that have occurred, but this does not mean that cows need to be culled. Strep ag is susceptible to many of the antibiotic products designed for mastitis. In fact, cure rates are typically greater than 90%, indicating that most, but not all, cows will be cured by antibiotic treatment.

Treatment over the dry period is particularly successful.

However, cows are at risk of reinfection unless you also have an effective plan to prevent spread of the bug from cow to cow during milking. You can eradicate this bug from your herd if you apply good management to stop new infections with the treatment of existing cases.

If your Bulk Milk Cell Counts are above 250,000 cells/mL, or you’re detecting more clinical cases of mastitis, contact your veterinarian to plan milk cultures which will confirm whether Strep ag is present in your herd. Your vet can also give you valuable information about control and treatment options if the cultures are positive for Strep ag.

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Culling is not usually necessary for Strep ag cases

Countdown Downunder Farm Guideline or Technote
Farm Guideline Introduction, 4.2, 4.3, 13.1

Keywords
Strep ag, DCT, treatment, control

Word length
246