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• Mastitis Analysis Service

Mastitis Analysis Service

The Timboon Veterinary Group is now able to offer a new Herd Test Mastitis Control Analysis.

The analysis reviews all of your herd tests currently stored on file to:

• Estimate of the current level of mastitis in your herd.
• Identify the periods when high levels of infection occurred in the past
• Indicate the current new infection rate occurring within your herd
• Compare the current new infection rate in your herd to your performances at previous tests and to other herds in the district.
  

By performing these analyses we can evaluate the success of your mastitis control program and identify areas where extra attention is required.  As newly infected cows may self cure during a lactation, be cured with treatment or never experience a cure it is difficult to assess the effectiveness of the current control measures simply by monitoring herd BMCC alone.

For example, if you experienced a high level of mastitis in your herd causing a cell count problem last month.  High cell counts experienced over the next few months could occur either of the following scenarios:

1. You are still experiencing high new infection rates and mastitis remains out of control in your herd.
2. You have implemented good control measures and have now lowered the new infection rate to acceptable levels. Mastitis is coming under control in your herd. The BMCC remains high as many of the cows that became infected when you first experienced the problem persist with high cell counts in the herd.

The difference in the long term between the two outcomes is that the farmer exerting good control and preventing new infections will see that the BMCC will reduce in time. The farmer who fails to control the new infection rate will not return to a low BMCC. In fact they are most likely to experience further increases in their BMCC. Any delay in implementing effective control will delay your return to low BMCC production and will involve greater economic losses.

To be involved all you need to do is contact the Timboon Veterinary Group and give us permission to access your herd test records from the HI Centre.