Dairy Microbiology

To Treat or not to Treat????

Culture your way out of the frustrations of mastitis!!

Treating clinical mastitis can be one of the most frustrating issues a dairy farmer faces.  The farmer is never sure whether to treat or not treat.

Winning the war against mastitis all comes down to answering one crucial question.  Are you dealing with a gram positive organism or a gram negative organism?  This knowledge will increase your chances of treatment working dramatically.  You can only acquire this important piece of information by culturing the milk.

Too many farms select the wrong drug for the wrong bacteria.  A wise treatment choice saves the dairy farmer money and time in the long run. 

Culturing milk can keep a producer from treating cows unnecessarily or from using an ineffective antibiotic¹.   The need to decrease antibiotic residue contamination time is a real issue.  Residue violations are serious and can lead to a loss of a milk permit.  When a producer has to change treatment drugs due to ineffectiveness, the number of treatment days also starts over².   This dictates that more milk goes down the drain and more money is spent on antibiotics.

 Blanket treatment (treatment without isolating the causative agent) can also lead to an increase of resistant organisms on the farm.  Often, non-responsive quarters are the sign of a resistant organism.  Antibiotic susceptibility testing is an effective tool to identify these organisms.

                  Antibiotic susceptibility testing results will help with the following:  

1. If they are consulted before starting treatment, they will help you institute a more judicious therapy.
2. They will confirm the efficacy of the antibiotic being administered.
3. They will be a guide to modify therapy if results demonstrate the antibiotic failed against a pathogen.
4. They can help keep down the level of resistant organisms on your farm, by guiding you to appropriate choices.

¹Wren, Geni,(Jan. 2000)  Mastitis treatment protocols, DairyHerd  Management.
²Owens, W.E., et al (1997).  Journal of Dairy Science 80:313-317.

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