The perfect

摘要

The Five-Point Plant was put together to tackle contagious mastitis. Two leading cattle vets have developed a 21st century mastitis management plan for dry cows, as Angela Rhodes discovers. Improving dry cow care could cut the incidence of mastitisby one-third say specialist cattle vets Martin Green and Dr Andrew Bradley. With around 60 percent of infections during early lactation originating in the dry period, management of the dry cow is a key area in the control of mastitis. These infections may be seen as clinical cases of mastitis or be subclinical and revealed as high cell counts after calving. Latest studies show that up to 20 percent of cows have at least one quarter infected with a mastitic pathogen - despite the use of dry cow therapy.In addition, studies have shown that more than 90 percent of bacteria found in the udder in the dry period, were introduced after the cow was dried off. By taking more care in the dry period a typical herd averaging 40 cases of mastitis per 100 cows a year, could see a reduction of 10 to 20 cases which could mean a saving of up to 3,000 pound in treatment costs and lost milk sales.