“Did you hear the one about the suckler cow rearing twins with two teats that got summer mastitis?” asked a farmer last week. I waited for the punchline but he laughed, shook his head and said this very thing had happened to him. At least he could make light from an unfortunate stroke of bad luck.

Summer mastitis mainly affects dry and cull cows but it is not uncommon in heifers and cows rearing calves. It is often the case that such animals are checked infrequently as they can be on outside farms or big fields of after-grass. The first clinical sign that farmers often see is stiffness and the animal lying away from the others rather than the acute illness associated with E coli-type mastitis post calving. When the enlarged, hard, hot quarter is found, more often than not, the quarter is lost for good. Within the mammary gland is an obvious abscess that destroys the delicate milk producing tissues. Obviously, these animals need treatment with anti-inflammatories and antibiotics but the pus needs to be drained from the quarter. If this is not possible by drawing the quarter, as the pus can be too thick, then the teat may well need to be amputated to allow drainage. The abscess in the gland is often so severe that the infection spreads to the joints, creating the stiffness, and if she is in-calf, can cause abortion or weak calves when they are born.

The cornerstone of prevention is fly control. There are many reasonably priced products on the market that are easy to apply that help reduce the numbers of flies and therefore can reduce the spread and incidence of summer mastitis. Applying Stockholm Tar to heifer’s teats can create a barrier to protect the teat canals. There is a theory that heifers that calve with blind quarters, where the teat canal is very thickened, contracted a subclinical summer mastitis the previous year. The infection may have been slight and gone unnoticed, but enough to permanently block the teat.

Lastly, cows that have lost quarters or have had teats amputated in previous years can be the source of infection that the flies spread around the healthy quarters and on to other cows. Therefore, such cows should be culled as you are asking for trouble like my happy-go-lucky client from the beginning of the article. If you have any questions on summer mastitis, consult your vet.

*Sean Coffey works at Mulcair Vet Clinic, Newport, Co Tipperary. Mulcair Vet Clinic is part of XLVets. XLVets is a group of progressive practices who are working together to achieve a better future for agriculture and veterinary in Ireland. For further information go to www.xlvets.ie