British Mastitis Conference 2023
The 35th British Mastitis Conference was held on 14 June 2023 at Sixways Stadium, Worcester. The move from a congested autumn period for conferences and meetings was deemed a success with an increase in numbers attending with delegate support for BMC to be held again in June 2024. The Workshop, on the preceding day, was presented by Vibeke Fladkjær Nielsen who discussed methods to Making Change Happen, with James Breen leading discussions on Mastitis Pattern Analysis Reports (herd data provided by those attending) with a further discussion on Monitoring cure rates for clinical mastitis on farm: Category C antibiotic products, selective treatment of clinical mastitis events and on farm culture.
As with most independent conferences, the British Mastitis Conference could not be held without the continuing financial support of sponsors – FullwoodJOZ, Hipra, Peacock Technology, Mastatest, IDDEX, Boehringer Ingelheim, ADF Milking, Milkrite InterPulse, DeLaval, Vétoquinol and Ambic. Although the target audience is mainly veterinarians, farm consultants, research scientists, students and academics – it is aimed at anyone with an interest in dairy farming and mastitis. The organising and scientific committee bring together a mix of researchers and practitioners from both the UK and further afield, which in 2023 included Sweden, Denmark and Ireland. For the first time in many years none of the speakers had previously presented at the BMC.
The first speaker was Carl Oskar Paulrud, DeLaval International AB, Sweden, who discussed “The role of teat condition on udder health – hyperkeratosis, a matter of meeting unneeded needs”. Carl advised that the continuous renewal of the outermost teat canal lining is continuously transporting potentially bacteria-contaminated material out from the teat. This process of continuous renewal is facilitated by the shearing forces from liner movement acting on the teat end during milking. He reiterated that hyperkeratosis is a chronic condition of disturbed balance of proliferation, differentiation and squamation/removal, seemingly caused by various forces acting simultaneously at the teat end during milking as a complex interplay between vacuum, teat anatomy and liner design. Carl suggested that rough teat ends, being more suitable for bacteria to colonize and harder to clean, seem to be the logical and most feasible explanation to why hyperkeratosis is one of the few visible conditions that are well proven to have a positive correlation to increased mastitis risk. Carl expanded on the causes of and control mechanisms for reducing and avoiding hyperkeratosis and concluded that besides poor liner fit and liner over-pressure, overmilking is the single most important reason for hyperkeratosis and may be avoided by rigid milking routines and well-chosen milking machine settings. He concluded that modern milking machine automation that, to a greater extent, individualizes the milking machine settings in real time for individual cows has the potential to decrease overmilking and increase overall parlour performance and improve udder health.
The following speaker was Vibeke Fladkjær Nielsen, Kvaegxperten, Denmark, who gave a presentation on “Changing behaviour and motivating farmers to implement new ideas”. Vibeke advised that when it comes to change and motivation, we assume that people think rationally and that we are all motivated by the same things. But we would be incorrect in that assumption because we think with our feelings, and it is those feelings that determine our actions. If change is not appealing to our feelings, we will not do it. Vibeke explained that motivation of people comes in two different types: external and internal motivation. External is when we do something to achieve an external reward or avoid something unpleasant. Internal motivation on the other hand is when we do something because of interest and engaging in activities that we find challenging, interesting, and internally rewarding without the prospect of any external reward. To get a better understanding on how we motivate farmers and employees she presented the findings of several field studies from which 5 motivational archetypes were identified. Vibeke explained what motivated these types, and how a manager or advisor should work with the different types. The method developed from the studies was then used with a basic knowledge of psychological processes in people and how changes most easily occur. The “scheme” focuses on the individual person, their identity and what motivates them, and that the focus is to take offset in the individual and thereby make the farmer more motivated to implement new ideas. Vibeke concluded that a change in behaviour requires a lot of energy, and therefore it is rare that we achieve an actual change in behaviour. Getting the changes to take root on the farms is difficult, all too often the action plans are not carried out, but are forgotten after a period, and thus the results are not realized on the farms. This method is based on knowledge of psychological processes in people and how changes most easily occur. The method works with the person, and it focuses on understanding the problem and understanding the person you are facing and their identity and what motivates the person, rather than continuing to focus on changes happening if we gain more evidence-based knowledge.
Four Knowledge Transfer (KT) posters were selected for oral presentation from the ten submitted. Rowan Cook, Scotland´s Rural Centre, UK, presented her study on “Mastitis in the Langhill herd: What can we learn from the world’s longest dairy genetics trial?”. Luke Gunter, Royal Veterinary College, UK, presented his study on “Dry period cure rates depending on previous year’s dry period performances.” Michelle McGrath, Animal Health Ireland, Ireland, discussed “Evaluating the in-lactation ‘Cell Count Solutions’ training programme: a new, multidisciplinary, team-based approach to mastitis control”. The final KT presentation was by Helen J. Williams, University of Liverpool, UK, on “Evaluation of milking performance following two different teat preparation routines”. Helen’s poster was voted the Best Poster at the 2023 BMC by the delegates.
After the lunch break Wil Armitage, Keythorpe Farms, Tugby, UK provided an insight in to how he moved the dairy farming business to an organic basis with “A discussion on mastitis management”. Wil advised that he was a dairy farmer now farming 3000 acres of organic land with three dairy units totalling 850 cows and followers. The business comprises partnerships and contract farming agreements. During the 1990’s Wil managed the highest yielding herd in the UK prior to farming in partnership with Peter Dixon Smith, converting to organic status in 2005. As the farm was selling milk to OMSCo milk was produced to the PWAB (Livestock products produced without antibiotics for US export) standard with no antibiotics used for seven years. Wil aims to feed high quality diverse forage mixes and fodder beet through the winter in a total mixed ration (TMR) and then effectively graze grass from March through to November. In the decade of 1990 to 2000, the dairy unit was farmed conventionally with the 160 cow herd achieving 11,650 kg, a butter fat (BF) at 3.97%, protein at 3.32% with a SCC of 164 (‘000) and 32 clinical mastitis cases per 100 cows. Following the conversion to organic status in the decade of 2005 to 2015, Wil was running a herd of 330 cows but with a reduced average yield of 7,120 litres with BF at 4.2%, protein at 3.36%, a slightly higher SCC at 182 (‘000) but with clinical mastitis falling to only 12 cases per 100 cows. There are now 530 dairy cows, averaging 7,280 litres with BF at 4.41%, protein at 3.45%, SCC at 238(‘000) but with clinical mastitis cases dropping to between 4 and 7 per 100 cows. Wil’s premise is that prevention is a necessity in an Organic PWAB system, with the goal – A healthy cow with a high immune status that is able to survive and thrive in a healthy environment that the business has created for her on the farm.
Jake Thompson, University of Nottingham, UK, looked at the topic of “Space to live and mastitis”. Jake advised the delegates that, although economic profitability of dairy enterprises is of critical importance, farms also have a duty of care to ensure high health and welfare status of stock, social equity and to limit their environmental impact. Despite the importance of housing for managing dairy cows worldwide, Jake stated that there was a limited amount of research into how the industry can evaluate and optimise housed conditions. A new term “living space” has been developed with a set definition that allows for comparison of space allowances provided to inhabitants irrespective of how this space is provided, for example wide passageways versus outdoor loafing areas. There is substantial variability in the amount of living space provided to dairy cows. He stated that living space allowances have been shown to greatly impact on production, reproduction and behaviour parameters. Worryingly, little research has been undertaken into how space allowances impact on udder health. Given that 99% of dairy cows in the UK are housed at some point during the year, Jake pointed out that it is essential for this environment to be optimised in order to promote improvements to udder health and thus reduce economic losses and pain associated with mastitis. Jake introduced the concept of living space as “A novel bespoke definition of the space within the dairy cow accommodation that was greater than that considered a baseline requirement for movement and feeding within the overall accommodation area, excluding lying areas” He concluded that there must be an emphasis placed on performing research into the likely links between the housed environment and udder health performance. This will allow the industry to improve its understanding of how to optimise the conditions that dairy cows are provided with.
The final paper of the 2023 British Mastitis Conference was the ever-popular presentation of a practical mastitis case study. This year the paper was presented by Bella Cima, Larkmead Veterinary Group, Cholsey, Oxfordshire, UK, who reported on a “Mastitis control plan case study: short- and long-term results”. Bella explained she carried out an AHDB Mastitis Control Plan in the spring of 2022 on a herd milking 460 Holstein Friesian cows. The herd had a clinical mastitis rate of 42 cases per 100 cows per year and an annual cell count of 208,000. The mastitis control plan was carried out including pattern analysis using the QuarterPRO tool. Analysis showed a mixed environmental pattern that demonstrated seasonality. In-depth on-farm observations and discussions were completed during the summer months and actions were selected from a list of recommendations produced by the Mastitis Control Plan software. A three month and one year review was carried out to discuss compliance with the plan and assess progress. Compliance with the plan was moderate, with five agreed action points continued. Rates of clinical and subclinical mastitis decreased at both reviews, with the herd mastitis KPIs currently greatly improved. Bella described that the use of the Mastitis Control Plan Cost Calculator tool estimated that mastitis was costing the farm £69,144 per year at the time of the plan. The majority of this cost was from milk discarded and reduced milk yield from clinical cases. She then advised that the cost calculator had predicted that the farm would need to commit to comply with 33-66% of plan recommendations to achieve an 18% reduction in clinical cases. It suggested that a compliance level of <33% would achieve a reduction of only 4% in clinical cases, with a net saving of only £2,179 after the control plan. However, Bella then described that, although the level of compliance was somewhat mixed, the changes had meant the calculated estimate of mastitis costs was now £45,572 – a saving of £23,572. Bella concluded that as the compliance level was mixed, the changes that the farm had chosen to make had a greater impact than suggested. She advised that a benefit of the Plan was that it had opened up an opportunity for discussion, time allocation and staff awareness of issues related to mastitis control that is difficult to measure. Overall, the clinical and subclinical mastitis rates had improved, with an annual average clinical mastitis rate of 28 cases per cow per year and a well-controlled annual cell count of 158,000.
The 2024 British Mastitis Conference will be held on Wednesday 12 June 2024, with the workshop on the previous day, covering the topics of milk harvesting and milking time assessments together with Mastitis Control Plan and data management. More information is available at www.britishmastitisconference.org.uk where all previous proceedings are available to download.
