New Course in Mastitis Management

MEDIA RELEASE

1 November 2010

New Course in Mastitis Management Set to Help Dairy Farmers

Agriculture ITO’s new Mastitis Management programme is set to help dairy farmers reduce the rate of mastitis in their herd. The end result will be lower antibiotic use, improved milk production and improved farm profitability.

Mastitis is one of the most common and costly diseases of cows. The two workshop series has been developed to help farmers create a mastitis management plan for their own farm that is practical and successful at decreasing clinical mastitis and somatic cell counts (SCC).

Whangarei dairy farmer, Brent Farrell, took part in the Northland pilot of the course. A dairy farmer for 23 years, Brent says the course contained very valuable information and he learned things he hadn’t previously known.

“It made us more aware of what needed doing and increased staff motivation to keep cell count down as the course really showed us the cost of mastitis on our farm,” he says.

His participation in the workshop has directly resulted in an increase in the quality of his milk. “Our SCC has gone down by fifty or sixty thousand,” he enthuses.

The workshops are made up of both theory training and practical sessions. At workshop one participants learn the theory behind mastitis and visit a farm to learn how to recognise key mastitis risk factors and develop a mastitis management action plan. They then assess the mastitis risk of their own herd and come back to workshop two to discuss and gain ideas to improve and finalise their mastitis action plan for implementation on their own farm.

The programme was developed by Agriculture ITO in conjunction with Steve Cranefield, mastitis consultant for PureMilk. A veterinarian with 20 years clinical practice in mastitis management, his experience means he knows only too well the true value of training in this area.

“There is a need for a practical course on mastitis management because in the industry mastitis is getting worse,” he says.

“This course will teach farmers to assess the main risk factors for mastitis in their herd and then develop their own action plan to correct the issues or seek expert assistance if required.

“The end result will be increased profit from less mastitis, as well as a reduction in antibiotic use, less culling of cows for mastitis and improved animal welfare.”

The Mastitis Management course is part of Agriculture ITO’s package of Milk Quality learning programmes that aim to increase farm profitability through improved milk quality and production. It is aimed at those in a supervisory role who can influence how mastitis is dealt with on the farm, like managers, sharemilkers and owners.

Courses in Mastitis Management begin soon nationwide. For more information or to enrol, contact your local Agriculture ITO training advisor on 0800 691 111 or visit www.agricultureito.ac.nz.

ENDS

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