Teat disinfectant helps keep your cows’ teat skin healthy and reduces the number of bacteria likely to cause mastitis. It is important to choose the product you use carefully.

Don’t make a snap decision to change at the moment you purchase a new drum.

Factors to consider are:

Effectiveness:
The dairy industry relies on the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority’s (APVMA) registration process to ensure that all products are effective in Australian dairying conditions. However, some may be better suited to your particular situation.

Ready-to-Use (RTU) formulations:

Ready-to-use formulations have become increasingly popular on Australian farms. They remove the daily task of having to mix a product on the farm, and they remove the risk that poor quality water used to mix a product on the farm may reduce the effectiveness of the product.

Suitability given your farm water quality:
Water that’s hard, alkaline or contains chlorine may reduce the effectiveness of different active ingredients in teat disinfectants and may form solids in the solution, which block spray equipment. Testing your water enables you and your adviser to work out which teat disinfectant is most compatible with the water quality you’re using.

Occupational health issues:
Skin reactions on the hands of milking staff may be the result of an allergic response to a product. It may also result from heavy exposure due to faulty settings on spray equipment or poor operator technique. Assess how the disinfectant is being used and whether the type of disinfectant should be changed if any staff member has an adverse reaction. A review is appropriate when new staff begin milking.

Teat skin reactions:
Teats should be regularly checked to ensure the teat skin is supple and in good condition. It is important to closely monitor changes when a new product is used. 

Visibility:
You can more easily assess whether you achieve good teat coverage if you use products which are visible on the teat skin.

Price:
Teat disinfectant products vary considerably in price. To compare it’s helpful to calculate the cost per cow per milking. To get good coverage Countdown recommends using 20mLs of solution per cow per milking.

For example:

Product “X” is an iodine concentrate (Iodine 20g/L) in a 20 litre drum which costs $110 including GST, and must be diluted 1 part to 3 parts water to make up 80 litres of final solution.

Nett cost = $100

Cost / litre of final solution = $100/80 = $1.25

Cost / 20mls = 125x20/1000 = 2.5cents

Cost per cow per milking = 2.5 cents

Product “Y” is a RTU formulation in a 200 litre drum which costs $315 including GST.

Nett cost = $315

Cost / litre of final solution = $307.50/205 = $1.50

Cost / 20mls = 150x20/1000 = 3.0cents

Cost per cow per milking = 3.0 cents

Shelf life:
Ensure that the quantity purchased – in either concentrate or ready-to-use form – will be finished prior to the expiry date specified on the label.

Field-testing of ready-to-use products in Australia has shown good stability on farms, provided they are stored according to label directions (under 30 degrees Celsius, out of direct sun and in the original closed container) and used within their shelf life. There is limited field experience with storage containers of large volumes (over 1000 litres).

Stability of iodine disinfectants may be reduced if there is a large volume of air in a container, even if it is sealed.

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