Shane Maxwell, a dairy farmer from Waterford, along with Esther Walsh, farm manager, were among the 500 winners of the 2014 CellCheck Milking For Quality awards.

Shane and his team milk 800 cows in two herds (Lismore and Moorehill) of 400 cows each.

For this month’s Animal Health Ireland CellCheck newsletter, they have identified six key areas in their approach to mastitis control, including protocols and attitude.

  • 1. Change of mindset: They moved away from blaming high SCC on outside factors - stray voltage or the milking machine – as these were all checked out and there were no issues.
  • 2. Investigate their milking practices and routine: In 2007, they engaged a veterinary consultant to examine their milking routine. Among the first questions the vet asked was whether they had identified the bacteria causing the infection. They identified Staph aureus infection as the main issue. This bacteria is contagious and is predominantly transferred at milking time. As a result, they concentrated their efforts on milking routine and teat disinfection.
  • 3. Teat disinfection: They assumed they were using adequate disinfectant, but discovered that they weren’t actually using enough. This was a major surprise to them, as they would not have known or rectified it, if they had not calculated the volume being used at the time. In addition, they checked the coverage of disinfectant on the teats and again found they were not covering the teats completely.
  • 4. Protect the clean cows: They now concentrate on protecting their low-SCC cows, rather than worrying about trying to cure the “millionaires”. To them, curing the cow with her first SCC test result over 250,000 cells/mL is more important, as the cure rate will be significantly higher. They cull all chronically infected cows.
  • 5. Teat sealant: For the team, the drying off period is vital in the management of SCC and it is an opportunity to treat cows for the following milking season. Antibiotic dry cow therapy (DCT) and teat sealant are used and they see a significant improvement in the cure rates of high-SCC cows over the dry period.
  • 6. Milk recording and accurate records: Regular milk recording and acting on the results are vital, together with the keeping of accurate records, when tackling mastitis and SCC.

    • Esther Walsh, who manages both herds, said a lot of commitment and attention to detail has resulted in tackling the SCC problem, especially in the Lismore herd. The Lismore herd initially had a real problem with SCC. Since 2007, they have focused their attention on resolving it by putting protocols in place to improve the herd to what it is today. The most recent SCC results for the Moorehill and Lismore herds are 54,000 SCC/ml and 113,000 SCC/ml respectively.

    Esther believes if you are serious about improving cell counts, it can be done and the work involved is worth it. She and her team have great pride in their work and a sense of achievement when both herds run consistently under 100,000 SCC for most of the year.

    Expanding a herd with an existing SCC problem could prove to be a very expensive option

    Shane also added that he believes no part of the milking routine is too small to investigate, as a lot of small corrections, over time, can make an enormous difference. He also feels that dealing with a mastitis problem in a large herd is an advantage. The herd can be split between low-SCC and high-SCC cows and the two groups dealt with separately, thereby ensuring there is no cross-infection.

    “Expanding a herd with an existing SCC problem could prove to be a very expensive option, as the problem will be compounded if not controlled,” he said.

    To read the full Animal Health Ireland CellCheck Newsletter, click here.

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