Mastitis Control In Dairy Herds

Mastitis in dairy herds is a worldwide problem, with significant implications for milk yields and quality, economic losses, and animal health and welfare - effective control makes a considerable difference to the farmer and the animal. This title includes chapters covering organic dairy herds, dry period infections, and best practice procedures.

Current, important information on mastitis for all food animal practitioners! Topics will include new perspectives in mastitis control, treatment of clinical mastitis, antimicrobial resistance in mastitis pathogens, the role of diagnostic microbiology in mastitis control programs, update on control of Staph aureus and Strep ag, epidemiology and control of mycoplasma mastitis, managing environmental mastitis, mastitis vaccine strategies, using mastitis records and somatic cell count data, the role of the milking machine in mastitis control, stray voltage and milk quality, communicating and implementing udder health programs, and more!

Mastitis is one of the main health issues in dairy production. The losses are not only economic, but also issues such as animal health and welfare, milk quality, antibiotic usage and the image of the dairy sector are important reasons to focus on mastitis control. Accordingly, mastitis is a topic that is well-studied worldwide. Although the scope of the studies may vary from the smallest unit, the gene, to the largest unit, a whole country, the final goal is to control mastitis more effectively. Effective mastitis control is based on knowledge from a wide range of fields, like infectious pressure, milking procedures, resistance, detection, diagnosis and treatment. However, science alone is not enough. To ensure effective mastitis control, research needs to be inspired by, and implemented in, dairy farming practice. This demands cooperation and communication between scientists, veterinarians, extension specialists and dairy farmers worldwide. This book gives the state of the art of mastitis research internationally. The contributions reflect not only current knowledge of mastitis control, but also provide ideas for effective mastitis control in practice.

Worldwide, mastitis is still one of the most important diseases in the dairy sector. Being a multifactorial disease, caused by multiple pathogens, control remains a difficult issue. Mastitis not only affects the health of milk-producing animals, having consequences for the profitability of dairy farms, it also affects the animal welfare. Moreover, mastitis negatively influences the milk quality having consequences for the dairy processing industry. In other words: mastitis affects a large part of the dairy production chain. Due to ongoing scientific effort, insight in mastitis in the context of increasingly complex farming systems, is improving. This insight leads to better methods to control mastitis, either by prevention or by adequate measures (e.g. therapy) when a cow (or goat or sheep) gets mastitis. This book reflects the current knowledge from all over the world on mastitis as it was presented during the 4th IDF International Mastitis Conference, held in June 2005 in Maastricht, the Netherlands. The papers of the 115 oral presentations and the 13 keynote presentations are reflecting not only the current knowledge of mastitis control but are also giving ideas for future solutions for control measures.

This book is comprised of 9 chapters focusing on dairy cattle disease prevention at the herd level. Topics covered include concepts in dairy herd health, facilitating change in herd health, rearing youngstock and replacing cows, managing herd reproduction, mastitis control and milk quality enhancement, lameness control, control of infectious diseases, nutritional management of herd health and dairy farming, food security and environmental issues. Appendices on sample sizes and disease prevalence estimates as well as on genetics and herd health are provided.