Good teat coverage is important. It requires careful operators with good equipment and safe facilities. Spray efficiency can be improved by:

• Choosing equipment that will spray an even cover of fine droplets to about 10 cm diameter when sprayed vertically from about 10 cm distance. Hollow or “doughnut” patterns are not satisfactory.
• Checking the spray pattern regularly by spraying onto a piece of paper.
• Arranging work routines to avoid boredom.
• Encouraging milking staff to regularly assess their own and each other’s teat coverage.

Simple checks:

• Examining individual teats of several cows to determine if all sides of the teat barrel are being covered. Wrapping a paper towel around the barrel, then carefully removing and examining it, can assist this procedure.
• Checking that at least 20 mL of prepared teat disinfectant is being used per cow per milking. This involves measuring the total amount of teat disinfectant used over two milkings and dividing this number by the total number of cows milked at both milkings.
• Calculating the time in seconds that is needed to apply the correct amount of disinfectant solution. This can be done, for example, by counting the number of seconds required to fill an empty 20 mL syringe barrel with the spray. This can then be compared with the actual time that operators take to spray each cow.

Regular review of teat disinfection efficiency with an adviser can also add to staff training and awareness about the importance of this routine activity in mastitis control.

Length:   260 words

Image and caption:

"A poor “donut” spray pattern makes teat coverage difficult"