Mastitis Focus

 

Is the drip of spray at the tip of the teat enough?

You won’t gain the milk quality and financial benefits of teat disinfection if the spray only reaches the tip of the teats.

Failure to cover the whole teat of every cow at every milking is the most common error in teat spraying. All benefits of correct product selection, preparation and handling are lost if the disinfectant doesn’t reach every area of the teat skin that’s been touched by the teacup liner.

About 20 mL of disinfectant should be used per cow per milking to achieve good coverage. The spray equipment and the operator’s technique both make a big difference to efficiency and effective coverage.

Simple checks for coverage include:

  • looking at teats after spraying – it can help if you use a product that’s clearly visible on the teat skin after it’s been sprayed on
  • calculating the volume actually used per milking
  • checking the time required to spray 20 mL from the gun and comparing that with the actual time spent spraying each cow.

Length:  179 words

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