March Newsletter

New Mastitis Results

Herds struggling with persistent high cell counts and repeat cases of mastitis should test milk samples to see which pathogen is the cause. Bacteria such as Strep. uberis is a notoriously hard-to-shift pathogen and is responsible for an increasing proportion of infections.
Latest nationwide results confirm this bug has been the biggest problem bacteria on farms this year, accounting for 23% of clinical cases.  It has also caused 18% of high somatic cell counts (SCCs). Competing for second place with Staph. aureus, is E. coli. 
The incidence of Strep. uberis mastitis won’t have been helped by prolonged periods of housing during the summer floods.  And those who took advantage of a dry autumn to extend the grazing season could simply find themselves delaying the winter onslaught of mastitis.
Winter housing inevitably brings a higher environmental exposure, particularly for loose-housed herds.  This is why doing some bacteriology testing is so important, since you get to know exactly what you are dealing with. Get those milk samples before you start treating and put them in the freezer in case you can’t cure it, it costs nothing but could save you mega-bucks.
Once indoors, the risk of toxic E. coli mastitis also increases when herds start winter calving, and contamination builds up in bedding.  It is important to test milk samples regularly because mastitis-causing bacteria change and behave in different ways. Strep. uberis frequently causes persistent infections which are often resilient to treatment and can create problems with Bactoscans.  Unfortunately, its ability to behave as both an environmental (in housing) and contagious (spread in parlour) bacteria makes it harder to control.  Ideally, units should aim to have a control plan for both environmental and contagious bacteria in place.
Although Strep. uberis can be treated with most antibiotics, there is no quick fix and the main problem is preventing recurring infections.  Often a cow is treated and recovers, and just when the milk is being put back in the tank the mastitis returns.
Early treatment and an aggressive treatment plan developed together with your vet are sometimes needed. Treating cases of E. coli  is made easier by combination therapy using tubes of for example, Cephaguard LC concurrently with injectable Cephaguard 2.5%. Or Noroclav LC with Noraclav injection. Because it is licensed for combination therapy, there is no extended milk withdrawal period. If you are sure it’s strep. uberis then Tylan can also be used (20mls per milking, 5 milkings) as well as Mamyzin. Advantage of these is they are both injectable.

Lungworm

With turnout in some parts of the country looking promising for this month, it is worth taking a few moments to consider the options for protecting cattle against lungworm. Where there is a known problem, a belt and braces approach includes the use of a vaccine (Bovilis® Huskvac) before turnout.
It is easy to assume, and it has traditionally been accepted that husk is a problem of younger cattle. However, over the past few years there have been an increasing number of reports of the disease affecting adult cattle.  In 2007, figures show more cases of the disease in animals over two years of age than in any other age group.   
The change in the age profile of the disease means a change in the effect on the economics of the disease.  While in youngstock the main effect remains a reduction in growth rates, leading to longer finishing times or time to first service, in older cattle the disease can depress milk yields and reduce fertility.
For a 100-cow dairy herd yielding an average 7,000 litres, the cost of an outbreak could be as high as £15,000 per annum. This is only the result of two deaths, three culled animals and three abortions.  What it doesn’t take into consideration is any extra vet visits, diagnostic testing and the loss of milk during treatment, so the eventual cost of an outbreak could be much more. The cost of vaccinating is negligible in comparison.
You’ll need to plan ahead, since vaccination requires two doses of the vaccine to be given with an interval of four weeks between doses and a minimum of two weeks between the second dose and turnout.  The vaccine can be safely administered to pregnant or lactating heifers, and can also be used as a preventive measure against lungworm outbreaks in adult cattle. If you’ve had any outbreaks in the past or have introduced bought-in stock please contact the practice to discuss the best approach to minimising the risk of an outbreak this spring. With recent dairy heifer prices of £2000 at Beeston Castle can you really afford to take a risk with your replacements?

Cattle Lameness

Recently we held an on-farm lameness practical workshop sponsored by Elanco who make Tylan. Nick Bell, a research scholar from Bristol University, was the guest tutor. Many thanks to those of you who turned up to what I thought, was a hugely useful and informative day. Due to the feedback we have received, it is hoped to hold another one in the future and I shall be looking to try and organise similar practical days to cover other topics related with cattle health.

Topics covered included interdigital dermatitis, solar ulcers, foot rot, slurry heal, housing, cow flow, standing time and related treatments. One lameness case costs £178 in treatment and hidden costs (which make up 2/3 of it) so you can’t afford to ignore it. That is a conservative estimate too!!

It appears some of you have excellent footcare regimes and others took away valuable info as to how to improve foot health. Regular footbathing with copper sulphate, formaldehyde, lincospectin or erythrocin seemed to be the common treatments. Tylan soluble powder also was used in cases although off licence (100g per 100L for prevention, 200g per 100L for treatment dose). For most footbathing chemicals 1L per cow is the generally accepted dosing concentration. Most foot infections occur in anaerobic conditions. Tylan is drawn to these acidic areas within 30 mins of injection, and, as such is excellent for lameness problems. (20ml per milking for 5 milkings)

Cattle housing was also covered in detail as the less time cows spend on their feet, the better. For the time they do spend, comfort is paramount. Comfortable cubicles are a must and rubber matting in areas such as collecting yards and feeding areas seems to reduce lameness incidence. If you are getting lots of lame cows please ask one of us to come and have a look around and chat about your footcare next time we are on farm.

For more information on anything surrounding lameness visit Nick Bell’s lameness website:
 www.cattle-lameness.org.uk

Bluetongue

As I’m sure you are all aware, there is much confusion surrounding this disease, where its prevalent and what we are doing regarding vaccination. As a result of all this confusion we are going to hold a Bluetongue information meeting. This will consist of a short presentation about the key facts that affect you and then a question and answer session. At the moment details are very sketchy regarding vaccination and movement protocols so I won’t go into anything now. Hopefully we will have been supplied with all the relevant information by then regarding vaccination so we can answer your questions. The meeting will be held at the Bradford Arms, Ivetsy Bank on:

Please contact the office if you wish to attend so we can arrange numbers.

Future Events

In the near future I shall be organising some small group mastitis meetings. These will consist of lunchtime sessions with 4-5 farmers a couple of vets and a Pfizer mastitis rep. Discussions will be based around their individual concerns and how best to effectively reduce incidence on their farms. If you are interested in taking part please let Penny or Jane know in the office and I shall try to organise one in your area.

If anyone has any topics that they would like covered in practice meetings, either practically or as a presentation then please mention to any of us next time we are on your farm.

And finally…….

Just a quick reminder as most of you will be approaching the time when you need to vaccinate again for BVD and lepto. This year we are recommending Pregsure and Spirovac as they are licensed to use together, can be carried on from any other BVD or lepto vaccines used previously and Pregsure can be used at ANY stage of lactation. Spirovac this year is cheaper than leptovoid as we have bought in bulk to get you a cheaper deal.