Experimental Herd For Mastitis Study

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30793, 3 July 1965, Page 9

Experimental Herd For Mastitis Study

An experimental dairy herd is to be established at Lincoln College for the further study of mastitis, which with infertility, ranks as the major disease problem of the dairy industry in New Zealand. The council of the Town Milk Producers’ Federation has decided

to make funds availabl Some 35 per cent of the country’s dairy cattle are thought to- be suffering from the disease to some extent and in loss of milk production and culling of cattle it is calculated that it is costing the country millions of pounds annually. Farmers do not generally appreciate the seriousness of the disease economically in its depressing effect on milk production. The new herd will be established in the spring of next year with some 22 two-year-old Friesian heifers due to calve at that time. They will be located on an area of 60 acres. The shed now used for the milking of the college’s town supply herd will be used by the experimental herd, and it is planned to build a new shed Of the production line herringbone type for the town milk supply herd. The Town Milk Producers Federation is to provide a grant of £lOOO towards the cost of building the new shed and to make available interest free a loan of up to £5OOO for the same purpose. It has also agreed to increase its grant of about £4750 a year for work on brucellosis and mastitis at the college by £l2OO a year to help with the running costs of the new herd, which will be on factory supply. Associated with the new herd will be Dr. C. S. M.

le for this project. Hopkirk, one of the country’s leading authorities on mastitis, on which he has been working since before 1930. Dr. Hopkirk said this week that one of the underlying aims of the project was to see if mastitis could be avoided. They would be starting off with disease-free heifers and in the shed they would be applying what were regarded as practical methods to keep mastitis out There were two or three measures in particular which they wanted farmers to carry out One was the treatment of teats with antiseptic cream and another the jetting out of cups between each cow. Cows could rlso all be treated with when they dried off. It was also urged that care should be taken to'femove the cups from cows as soon as the milk ceased to flow to avoid cross infection with mastitis between quarters of the same cow or between successive cows. In the experimental herd examinations would be made of the skin surface of the teats and milk would be submitted to bacteriological examination. Half of the heifers would also be vaccinated in an attempt to keep them clear of the disease and where infection did appear in heifers antibiotics would be used.

If mastitis appeared a watch would be kept on the relationship between mastitis and solids-not-fat in the milk and also on the quantities of milk produced from. the quarters of affected cows. As is already being done at the college. Dr. Hopkirk said that tests would be made with any new antiseptic creams coming on the market It is one of Dr. Hopkirk’s views that dairyfarmers generally do not give their herds enough attention while they are in the shed and in particular it is his view that not enough pre-milking stimulation is done. Working with Dr. Hopkirk win be Mr R. Warden, a field officer, who is now in contact with eight herds within five miles of the college, as part of mastitis studies. A monthly examinationTs'’taf»f of a composite milk sample from these herds and also-6f quarter samples frpm fieifers in these herds...Dr. Hoplprk' said that farmer co-operation and interest in the Christchurch area had been very good. With the mastitis programme other studies may also be carried on. Skim milk from the experimental dairy will be used to feed all replacement calves for the town supply farm and also crossbred calves for beef production. Charolais Friesian calves which will be born at the college in 15 months’ time will be reared on the property. Mr M. G. Hollard, senior lecturer in the animal science department at the college and supervisor of the town milk supply farm, said this week that studies might also be carried further into the relationships between specific feeds, their break down in the rumen of cattle and their effect on milk composition.