Pathogen Identification and Incidence Rates of Mastitis on Organic and Conventional Dairy Farms

摘要

Mastitis is recognized as the most common and costly production disease on dairy farms worldwide (Reyher et al., 2011), resulting in production losses for producers (Auldist & Hibble, 1998), decreased milk quality (Barbano et al., 2006) and in some cases inciting a painful condition (Siivonen et al., 2011), which negatively impacts cow welfare. Management of mastitis can be difficult on any farm regardless of system type. Mastitis in organic cows represents a particular challenge because producers must alter treatment strategies from conventional industry norms to comply with organic regulations (Ruegg, 2009). To date, studies that looked at clinical mastitis rates and pathogens on Canadian dairies have not specifically included certified organic farms. It is beneficial to identify rates of infection and commonly occurring mastitis pathogens so that management strategies are tailored to each system to optimize intra-mammary infection prevention. The objective of this study, thus, was to identify incidence rates and predominant pathogen types of producer identified clinical mastitis on conventional and organic dairy farms utilizing tie or loose housing systems with varied access to pasture.