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Heifer mastitis is real, it is costly, and dairy scientists say it is more common than many milk producers think. How common? It isn't considered a problem unless more than 15 percent of heifers freshen with clinical cases.
But it's a threat that can be significantly reduced through hygiene, nutrition, and strict management protocols. The National Mastitis Council (NMC) recommends that every dairy consider this 10-point prevention and control program when heifers are still calves:
- Improve general udder health management to decrease infection of udder pathogens from older cows to heifers.
- Control cross-suckling by calves and young stock.
- Implement an effective and efficient fly control system.
- Keep heifers in a clean, hygienic environment that is separated from cows, and devote as much attention to maintaining it as is devoted to the cows' environment.
- Avoid any nutritional deficiency. Monitor vitamin E and selenium if high clinical mastitis exists. Zinc, copper and vitamin A can also play a role.
- Prevent the risk of negative energy balance before and after calving via proper transition feeding.
- Reduce udder edema incidence through optimum close-up period management.
- Minimize stress around calving time, such as by not moving cows when in labor, and minimize dystocia and pre-calving diseases.
- Consider the use of teat sealants before calving if a high risk of environmental mastitis exists during the close-up period.
- Use precalving antibiotic treatment under certain conditions only: under the supervision of the herd veterinarian and a valid client/patient relationship (VCRP); after culturing has identified the pathogens and quantified the problem; appropriate antibiotics are chosen for use; milk is residue-tested before every milk delivery; and management is upgraded at the same time and treatment is stopped as soon as it becomes effective.
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The author has served large Western dairy readers for the past 37 years and manages Hoard's WEST, a publication written specifically for Western herds. He is a graduate of Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, majored in journalism and is known as a Western dairying specialist.