Dairy cow breast health

Dairy cow breast health

The ultimate goal of dairy production is to produce milk, so it is important to protect the cow's breasts. However, after the cow's breasts have been infected with mastitis to varying degrees, the potential milking potential of dairy cows has not been brought into full play. The purpose of this paper is to remind the dairy cow breeder to pay enough attention to the mastitis of the cows and to minimize the losses. point. 1 The dangers of mastitis on dairy cow's udder The mastitis is the pathogenic bacteria that penetrates the nipple and invades the inflammation caused by the mammary gland. Divided into two kinds of clinical mastitis and subclinical mastitis, clinical mastitis caused by breast swelling, fever, pain, milk intake reduced, extruded flocculent milk, cattle also appeared elevated body temperature and antifeedant and other symptoms; recessive There is no clinical symptom of mastitis, but the amount of milk is reduced. Its harm to the herd even exceeds that of clinical mastitis because it is not easy to attract people's attention and it is secretly harmed. According to statistics, 97% of mastitis belong to recessive mastitis, and Can be transmitted to clinical mastitis under certain conditions. 2 The influence of mastitis on milk production When bovine taint with mastitis, the body produces a large number of white blood cells to eliminate pathogens and repair damaged tissue. A large number of white blood cells cluster together and block some of the breast ducts, making it unable to secrete milk. Drainage, which leads to a decrease in the total amount of lactating cells, affects the entire number of fetuses and even the final production of milk. Some dairy experts in developed countries have determined that the number of cells contained in a milk sample is positively correlated with milk loss, and how much milk is lost from the herd due to mastitis? Use the following example to illustrate. During the period from 1994 to 1995, 17 cattle in Xi'an participated in the somatic cell determination. The number of somatic cells exceeding 300,000 accounted for 70%-80% of the total number of cattle. This led to the calculation of the total amount of secondary milk of cattle. Losses, the average loss of milk per head of 500 kilograms or more, then, 100 heads of cattle, the loss of parity will reach 500100 = 50000 kilograms. 3 Other losses caused by mastitis 3.1 Reduce the quality of fresh milk. As milk contains a large number of somatic cells and antibiotics, the milk is contaminated to some extent, which affects the quality and flavor of the milk. In many developed countries, the number of somatic cells in milk exceeds 300,000, and the price of milk will have to be discounted. More than 500,000 will be rejected. 3.2 Increase the cost of herd replacement. Since mastitis causes a decrease in the amount of milk produced, feeding becomes uneconomical and has to be eliminated (normally, this cow is at a peak of milk production, because cows with higher milk production are more susceptible to mastitis). 3.3 Other losses. Such as abandoned milk, medicine costs, extra labor, loss of genetic potential, and so on. 4 Prevention of mastitis Mastitis is closely related to the environment, feeding and management, proper use and maintenance of milking equipment, and milking procedures. Therefore, starting from these aspects can make mastitis effectively controlled. Among these factors, incorrect milking procedures are the main cause of infection. During the milking process, the cow's nipples are open for release of milk, bacteria are easily invaded, there are no clinical symptoms of subclinical mastitis, and the gradual reduction in milk production is not easily noticeable, but cattle are indeed infected and can infect other cattle. . We saw in many cattle farms: The milker scrubbed all the cow's breasts with a towel, which is one of the most unobservable ways of infection of mastitis. 4.1 Proper milking procedures 4.1.1 Gentle treatment The main objectives of the cow milking process are: 1) stimulating the breasts to promote rapid and complete milking; 2) clean and dry nipples; 3) production of high quality milk 4) Try to shorten the milking time for each cow. During the milking process, cows are stimulated by the nerve endings of the nipple, which promotes the release of oxytocin from the pituitary gland. Oxytocin can promote milk discharge. If cows are treated harshly before milking or shouting loudly, cows are frightened. It releases epinephrine, and adrenaline inhibits the release of oxytocin, which results in incomplete breast milk and affects milk production. 4.1.2 Cleaning the nipple The purpose of cleaning the nipple is to stimulate the nipple and to obtain clean milk. There are three processes to clean the nipple: rinse, dry, massage. When washing, care should be taken not to wash too much area, because the area is too large will make the upper part of the breast with the water flow, concentrated in the nipple, so that the opportunity to increase the nipple infection. After washing with a clean towel or paper towel, waste newspapers to dry, pay attention to a cow a towel or a piece of paper, towel after cleaning, disinfection, and then massage the breast to promote the release of milk. This process should be gentle and fast and it is recommended to complete within 15-25 seconds. 4.1.3 Discarding The first 1-2 milks do the following: They enable the milker to detect abnormal milk and clinical mastitis early; Discard high milk counts from milk ducts; Provide a Strong irritating stimulation. It should be reminded that the first 1-2 milk can be squeezed before the teat is cleaned, or after the teat is cleaned. It is advisable to wash before cleaning the nipples, as this will give the cows a strong boost to the milk early. Waste milk is used in special containers to reduce environmental pollution. 4.1.4 Nipple Medication Experts recommend immersing the nipple with a disinfectant solution before milking, then leave for 30 seconds, and then dry it with a paper towel or towel. It is necessary to implement this procedure on cattle farms with poor sanitation or mastitis caused by environmental problems. The recommended procedure for a nipple bath is as follows: Remove the sundries and other debris from the nipple by hand; discard the first 1-2 milks per nipple; make a medicinal bath for each nipple; wait for 30 seconds; wipe dry. Note: If the nipple is very dirty, it should be washed with water before the medicinal bath. 4.1.5 Milking If the machine is milking, care should be taken to use the milking machine correctly and observe that the milking machine is working properly. If the machine is not running properly, the milk will not be completely filled or the breasts will be damaged. Manual milking should reduce the milking time. 4.1.6 After the milking of the teat nipple 15 minutes after milking, the circular sphincter of the nipple restores its contractile function and closes the nipple hole. Within 15 minutes, open nipple holes are vulnerable to environmental pathogens. The medicine bath is performed in time so that the disinfectant adheres to the nipple to form a protective film, which can greatly reduce the incidence of mastitis. 4.2 Control of environmental pollution Mastitis is caused by infection of pathogenic bacteria in the environment through the nipple and into the mammary gland. Therefore, providing cattle with a comfortable and clean environment is conducive to the control of mastitis. Environmental control should pay attention to the following aspects: 4.2.1 Feed For high-yield cattle, high-energy, high-protein diets are beneficial to protect and increase milk production, but also increase the load on the breast, so that the body's resistance In general, few people are willing to limit milk production in order to control the incidence of mastitis, but when comparing the economic benefits of high input, high output, and medium input and medium output, it should be considered. The loss caused by mastitis is a factor. Studies have shown that vitamins and minerals play an important role in anti-infection. Selenium deficiency, VA, and VE in the body increase the incidence of clinical mastitis. Special attention should be paid when formulating high-yielding dairy cow diets. 4.2.2 The wet and dirty environment of the cowshed and cowshed is conducive to the breeding of bacteria. Therefore, the cowshed should be cleaned in time, and the stadium should be drained and kept dry. The size of the cowshed should be reasonable and the design of the cow bed should be as comfortable as possible when the cow is in bed. The cow bed should be covered with grass, sand, sawdust and other materials to keep it soft. The hard cow bed can easily damage the breast and cause infection. 4.3 Maintenance and Care of Milking Equipment Milking equipment plays a key role in maintaining a high level of breast health and milk quality. It is very important to regularly inspect and evaluate the entire milking system. Due to the high frequency of use of the milking system, especially its regular contact with living organisms such as nipples, it is important that all parts of the milking system are replaced in time to maintain normal working conditions. The timely inspection and maintenance of the milking system can avoid their adverse effects on the health of cows and milk production. Therefore, it is recommended that the milking system be thoroughly and thoroughly evaluated twice a year, absolutely not less than once a year. Daily monitoring of the milking system should include the following: vacuum pump air flow, system vacuum level, vacuum stability, milk flow characteristics in the teat and the entire pipe, vacuum regulation efficiency, pulsation, condition of rubber parts, system hygiene, milk cooling Equipment, individual cattle and group milk production. 5 Treatment of Mastitis Mastitis in dairy cows should be mainly prevention, because a good environment and proper milking procedures will greatly reduce the incidence of mastitis. Severely infected cows with mastitis have high treatment costs. After curing, they will affect the final milk production and should be eliminated. For some cows with therapeutic value, they should be treated during the dry period. During dry milk, long-acting antibiotics are used to perfuse the breasts, and after a slow release, the effective concentration of antibiotics lasts more than 21 days in the breast, eliminating both the infectious pathogenic bacteria parasitizing in the breast and preventing pathogenic bacteria in the external environment. Invasion of the breast. 5.1 The necessity of dry cow treatment 5.1.1 After entering the dry period, due to the stop of milking, the number of white blood cells and immunoglobulins in the mammary also abruptly decreased, and the daily teat medicated bath was cancelled. As a result, environmental pathogens are highly susceptible to infection within three weeks after stopping milk. 5.1.2 For pathogenic bacteria with strong resistance, such as Staphylococcus aureus is difficult to completely eliminate in the breast during lactation, and after the dry period of treatment, the effect is better, so that the breast has the opportunity to repair before the next lactation period Damaged breast tissue. 5.1.3 Two weeks before childbirth, the mammary gland begins to enlarge, and the secretion of nipples increases. Some even drips colostrum. If no prevention is performed, clinical mastitis may occur. 5.1.4 After a dry period of treatment, the herd significantly reduces the incidence of mastitis during the next lactation period. 5.2 Dry cow treatment steps 5.2.1 stop milk should be selected in the pre-production period of 55-60 days, at least not less than 40 days, otherwise the mammary gland damage and mammary gland secretion of cells can not be fully repaired and supplemented. There are two methods for stopping the milk, gradually stopping the milk and stopping the milk at one time. To cope with the dry cow treatment and reduce the new infection rate, it is best to use one time of stopping the milk. For cows with a milk mass higher than 10 kg, before stopping the milk 3 - In 4 days, feed and water feeds should be gradually reduced to force them to reduce their milk production. For cows suffering from clinical mastitis, they should be treated before stopping milk to eliminate symptoms and then stop breastfeeding. After breastfeeding, check the breast condition at any time until the breasts are completely open. If there is a clinical infection in the milk area shortly after stopping milk, milking should be resumed and treated. After the cure, the milk should be stopped and the dry period should be treated. For somatic cells with high milk production, cows with low milk production should be stopped for treatment as soon as possible, not only can completely heal, but also can reduce the spread of germs. 5.2.2 Dry Dairy Treatment The method of using breast perfusion is more common, but there is a certain degree of danger. If the method is improper, it will bring bacteria with strong resistance to the environment into the breast. The bacteria in these environments are more parasitic than parasites. The bacteria in the breast cause more extensive and severe damage to the breast. In order to avoid the occurrence of the above, the following methods should be used: Completely squeeze the milk clean; After the squeezing, quickly carry out the nipple bath; Dry the excess bath with a clean towel or paper; Disinfect the nipple with alcohol cotton balls A cotton ball can only sterilize a nipple, first disinfect the outside of the pair; when the drug is poured, start with a pair of nipples in the near side. In order to avoid infection, the needle should not be inserted too deep, 6mm can. After the infusion, massage the breast. Only one nipple can be used for one needle; In addition, the nipples should be given at least once a day during the first two weeks after dry milk treatment and two weeks before the start of production. The drug to be infused should be selected according to the type of bacteria and its drug sensitivity. In developed countries, for the cows that are about to dry milk, the last milk sample produced will be sent to a special laboratory for strain identification and drug sensitivity. Sex test, the results will be selected after the drug has targeted. The drug dose should be appropriate, generally can maintain the drug for 20-30 days. There are many dry-emulsion drugs on the market. It is best to use dry disposable milk needles. A single syringe contains just enough medicine for a dairy area and 4 cattle for a cow. In the case of large-dose packaging containers, if handled improperly, they are easily contaminated by bacteria and yeast in the environment. Therefore, the cork is disinfected with alcohol prior to each drug withdrawal, and unused drugs are not allowed to be taken from the syringe. When returned to the bottle, you can't fold two bottles of unused drugs into one bottle. 5.3 Two options for treating dry cows: The first option is to treat all cows entering the dry period one by one. This method is simple and easy to carry out. No sample testing is required. It can treat every cow in the herd. Every milk area. The second option is: Selective treatment, which only deals with cows and milk areas with high somatic cell content, which can reduce the scope of treatment and save manpower and expenses. Which of the following solutions can be used depends on the specific situation in the local area: (1) The number of somatic cells in the milk tank mix is ​​higher than 500,000; (2) For every 100 milking cows, More than 4 clinical mastitis occurred within 3 days; (3) the infection rate in the breast area was greater than 15%; (4) In the whole group, the average number of somatic cells per head was greater than 250,000. The following options are available for the following scenarios: (1) The number of somatic cells is higher than 250,000 during the prolific lactation period; (2) cattle with clinical mastitis during lactation; (3) detected in milk samples The main pathogen that causes mastitis. 6 It is recommended that mastitis is everywhere in dairy cows and is always present. For dairy farmers, the most important thing is that you must understand the status of your cattle mastitis. Of course, clinical mastitis is very intuitive. You will seize the time to treat, then the incidence of hidden mastitis in your herd, do you understand? How much is it harmful to production? Can you estimate it? The China-Canadian Integrated Dairy Breeding Program provides dairy cattle producers with a simple and rapid method for the monitoring of mastitis, known as DHI. Since its official launch in 1994, it has received significant results. It has now been developed by Xi'an, Shanghai and Hangzhou. Four points in Beijing have expanded into surrounding areas. According to statistics, the incidence of mastitis in all cattle participating in the milk test has been greatly reduced. At the same time, the milk determination report also provides other relevant information on the herd production, which can guide you to improve the feeding and management of the herd and obtain the highest return with the lowest investment. Therefore, it is recommended that you participate in the milk testing program provided by the cow project as soon as possible, and you will receive very significant results.

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