The risk of mastitis increases dramatically if teats have chaps, cracks or sores. This happens for a number of reasons.

Firstly these areas of damaged skin are good hiding places for bacteria to escape the action of teat disinfectant.

Secondly, thickening or roughness of the skin around the teat opening (teat end “hyperkeratosis”) reduces the capacity of the teat canal to protect against bugs that penetrate the teat opening.

You can significantly reduce your risk of mastitis by ensuring these effects are minimised in your herd. Each day milking staff should check both the barrel and the ends of some teats after teat cups are removed.

Teats in good condition are soft, supple and smooth. Signs of damage include red or blue discolouration, swelling or firmness, skin cracks or sores anywhere on the barrel of teats, or rough skin around teat openings.

If more than 1 in 20 teats appears to be damaged, this is a trigger to do some more investigation.

In that case, the first step is to have the herd assessed in a standard, repeatable way. This involves a close inspection of all teats on at least 25 cows, or 10% of the herd for herds of up to 500 cows, and on 50 cows in herds over 500 cows.

Advisers now have a comprehensive teat scoring system for investigating and monitoring teat condition in Australian dairy herds. Teat scoring enables the type of damage and its pattern of occurrence to be specified and provides important clues to the causes of damage.

If you notice early signs of deterioration in teat health, act early and contact your milking machine technician or veterinarian to assess teat condition over the whole herd and help resolve teat problems.

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"Turn teats up to check the teat end"

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"Skin cracks and chaps increase the risk of infection"