Blog

Shepton Vets: Insights into Mastitis Prevention and Treatment

We have completed 18 months of milk bacteriology now at Shepton and have amassed 242 samples that I’m now able to share. 

The diagram attached shows the distribution of all bacteria, but in summary we are seeing primarily environmental origin bacteria in our samples or cases that have not cultured bacteria (and have likely self-cured). We have also cultured several major and minor contagious pathogens, showing that across the Shepton pool there is still some significant risk in terms of cow-to-cow spread of mastitis – particularly in the cases of Staph Aureus. 

We have also carried out antibiotic sensitivity testing with some interesting results; for most Gram-positive infections, a straight penicillin-based tube is the most effective treatment, with higher class antibiotics actually having more resistance found. When it comes to treating mild/moderate cases of E. Coli we know that we are likely to see self-cure, but if we do treat with antibiotics, resistance is likely and therefore treating with IMM tubes may be no more beneficial than not doing so. 

In summary: 

There are lots of mastitis-causing pathogens, the only way of finding out what is on your farm is to test mastitis samples (these need to be taken in a sterile manner)
Once mastitis patterns and pathogens are known, plans can be put in place to reduce the risk of mastitis on your farm
Knowing pathogens will allow you and your vet to formulate the most effective treatment protocols for your farm
Depending on pathogens found, on-farm rapid mastitis tests could further improve treatment protocols and outcomes – we now have an 8-hour lateral flow mastitis test

Please speak to your routine vet or Charlie if you would like to look into mastitis further on your farm.