During a discussion with a vet in Western Victoria the other day, he described a recent call from a very worried farmer.  The farmer had just discovered that whilst he had been at the football on a Saturday afternoon his relief milker had detected and treated two clinical cases of mastitis.

The football that afternoon hadn’t been just a normal game, it was the local grudge match between two neighbouring towns, and was usually followed by a fairly big night of either celebration or mourning, depending on the result, so the farm owner had arranged the relief milker for the whole weekend.

By the time the farm owner returned to the dairy, the relief milker had dutifully treated the mastitis cows for two days with what he thought were the appropriate tubes for treatment.

The farm had a written protocol for treating cases of mastitis which was stuck on the inside of the drug cabinet door, so the relief milker had been confident that he knew what he had to do.

Unfortunately there were two boxes of tubes on the shelf in the drug cabinet and both were a similar colour and had a somewhat similar name – except one box actually contained the remaining tubes of antibiotic dry cow therapy left over from drying off a group of cows earlier in the week!

Unsure of exactly which tubes the relief milker had used, the farmer had called his vet for advice about what he should do now, and what might be the likely withholding periods.

Whilst listening to this story unfold, I began to think of how drastic this could have been for the farmer, his factory and for the industry as a whole.

At several industry meetings that I have recently attended, the importance of supplying milk that is free of residues from both antibiotics and other chemicals has been very clearly emphasised – in fact, it is an absolutely critical requirement of satisfying our markets and ensuring the future of our industry.

The cost to the individual farmer of an antibiotic residue in a vat of milk is large enough, but the cost to the industry could be potentially huge. And the biggest use of antibiotics on dairy farms is in the treatment and control of mastitis.

The final word from the very worried farmer was that when he was finally able to contact the relief milker, he was able to establish that in fact, the correct tubes had been used - and he now stores his dry cow therapy in a completely separate place!!

Image caption – “Good records and instructions help to lower your risks”

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