Prevent heifer mastitis this housing season

Heifer mastitis can have serious implications on your herd. Contracting mastitis before or after calving, or during the first lactation significantly affects udder health and future lactations, ultimately impacting lifetime milk yield.  

The impact on herd welfare and profitability means preventing and managing mastitis in your herd is in your best interests.

What causes mastitis

Mastitis is caused by different types of pathogen, (disease causing bacteria), that infect the udder. Mastitis pathogens establish themselves as bacteria on the teat, that then ‘grows’ into the teat canal.

Environmental mastitis pathogens	Contagious mastitis pathogens
Streptococcus uberis (Strep. uberis)	Staphylococcus aureus (Staph. aureus)
Escherichia coli (E. coli)	Streptococcus agalactiae (Strep. agalactiae)
Klebsiella	Streptococcus dysgalactiae (Strep. dysgalactiae)
Pseudomonas
Trueperella

Coagulase-negative Staphylococci

Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) are a bacterial group commonly found in clinical mastitis cases and in quarters with a high somatic cell count, both in cows and heifers. These infections seem to be more important in heifer mastitis. 

The CNS group consists of over 50 different species and subspecies of bacteria, though only a small number of these are reported as causing mastitis. Some CNS species appear to be more ‘contagious’ and some more ‘environmental’ in terms of their ability to elevate cell count and persist in the udder.  

What type of mastitis are you dealing with?

Heifers are susceptible to mastitis pathogens from when they start to produce mammary secretions. Therefore, infection can be picked up at any point between an animals birth and it’s first calving. It’s important to track the percentage of your heifers with high-cell-count infections. As well as tracking the rate of new clinical mastitis in the first 30 days of lactation. With affected heifers, you should sample individual quarters for bacteriology. CNS infections are usually found immediately after calving.

Symptoms of mastitis

Here are some signs of mastitis in heifers:

• A swollen teat and/or udder
• A thick, smelly yellow discharge from the teat
• Flies are attracted to the discharge
• Swelling of the hind legs
• Lethargy
• Separation from the herd

Reducing / preventing heifer mastitis

Antibiotic use

Antibiotics for existing mastitis should be a short-term solution. Long-term success relies on improved herd management and prevention strategies. Dry cow therapy can treat existing infections before calving but should not be used for control due to variable infection pressures and long withdrawal periods. Injectable antibiotics should not be used for mastitis control prior to calving.

Fly control

Control flies early with pour-on or spot-on treatments, fly ear tags, and repellents. Aim to start treatments before the fly season begins.

Cross-suckling

Prevent cross-suckling to avoid spreading infections. Feed milk replacer or pasteurised milk to avoid antibiotic residues and diseases like Johne’s.

CNS

To prevent CNS, ensure a clean and dry environment for heifers throughout the weeks before and during calving. To reduce risk, ensure you are effectively disinfecting teats, that milking equipment doesn’t damage the teat end, and use a post milking teat dip.

How Herdwatch can help

‘Per Cow’ breaks down the information on an individual basis for each animal. All relevant headings from your milk recording are covered. This section also can be filtered down if you want to search for specific animals milk recording . Using the magnifying glass in top right hand corner it also gives you the option to filter:

• The date of the milk recording.
• Lactation.
• Calving date.
• Days in milk.
• SCC.
• Milk KG.
• Fat.
• Protein.
• Milk Solids.
• EBI.