Tackle mastitis in dairy COWS

Mastitis is one of the most significant challenges in the dairy industry, reducing milk yield and overall profitability.

- Christal-Lize Muller

The condition entails inflammation of the udder, most commonly triggered by bacterial infection or physical trauma.

According to Dr Chantelle Erwee, technical manager: ruminants at Zoetis South Africa, mastitis during early lactation can have a serious impact on reproductive performance. It is associated with longer intervals to first service, extended conception times, and an increased number of services per conception - all of which reduce reproductive performance.

Even mild mastitis can compromise milk quality by increasing inflammatory cells.

Severe cases may drastically reduce milk production and can, in some instances, lead to cow mortalities.

Dr Erwee notes that mastitis-causing organisms can be categorised as either host-adapted or environmental.

Although more than 100 organisms can cause mastitis, the majority of cases are linked to five key bacterial species, highlighted in red in Table 1.

These organisms are classified as either Gram-positive or Gram-negative. 'Gram' refers to a laboratory staining technique that differentiates bacteria according to their cell wall structure and aids in identification under a microscope.

Host-adaptive vs environmental

In host-adaptive or contagious mastitis, infected udders and contaminated milk serve as the primary sources of infection. This form of mastitis is most often associated with lactating cows and spreads between cows or quarters during milking, primarily through infected milk. Transmission commonly occurs via contaminated milking machines, operators, or shared udder washcloths and sponges.