Magazine on Mastitis and Milk quality for the dairy professional

#36-2023

Interview

Meet Prof. Pamela Adkins

10 min read ,  ,  , 

Pamela Adkins is assistant professor of Food Animal Medicine in the Large Animal Ambulatory Facility in the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery, University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, US. She holds a BS degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln followed by DVM and MS from Ohio State University and PhD from the University of Missouri. More recently she has administrative responsibilities as Vet Public Health Emphasis Area Coordinator in the School of Health Professions and as Assistant Agricultural Experiment Station Director for the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Missouri. Pamela has a long list of peer-reviewed scientific papers to her name, both as lead author and as co-author. She has a successful track record in attracting funding from external sources for her training and research work.
M²-magazine spoke to Pamela about her work.

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Focus

Pre-milking teat preparation

30 min read ,  ,  ,  , 

Post-milking teat dipping is one of the cornerstones of the 5-point plan set up in the 1960ies by the National Institute for Research in Dairying (NORD) in the UK.
In 2017, Tom Hemling (1) proposed to enlarge the plan with two additional features. First, milk a clean, dry, and disinfected teat. Second, use nutrition, stimulants, and vaccines to improve immunity.
On modern dairy farms, these two topics are critical for mastitis prevention.
The original five principles aimed at controlling mainly contagious bacteria. Mastitis caused by bacteria with an environmental origin is nowadays an important threat in many herds. In this article, Joséphine Verhaeghe has a look at the impacts of pre-milking teat preparation. What are the targets we want to reach? She will also address the need for such practice in conventional and automatic milking systems. Finally, she will have look at how to implement it to be as efficient as possible.

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Researcher@work

The immunity-AMR Project: A new Op+lait initiative

5 min read ,  ,  ,  , 

A new multidisciplinary research team composed of Christopher Fernandez-Prada, David Langlais, Jocelyn Dubuc, Éric Paquet, and Simon Dufour, based in the province of Québec, and involving multiple centers (UdeM, McGill, and U. Laval), has decided to explore how genetic mutations may contribute to cases of antibiotic treatment failure, AMR, and persistent or recurring infections in dairy cows. If these mutations can be identified, the research team could develop new tests to predict how easily a cow will get sick. In addition, the research team will also shed new light on how a weak immune system can lead to an increased frequency of AMR infections in dairy cows.

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Advisor@work

My journey into milk quality consulting – necessity and passion

12 min read ,  , 

My journey into milk quality consulting began when I was 12 and made the decision I wanted to become a veterinarian. Growing up on a small, general livestock farm in Michigan, USA I learned about caring for many farm animals. By the time I graduated from high school, my favorite farm animal had become the cow. I cannot explain the attraction. I like cows – both dairy and beef, mature and newborn, growing heifers and just fresh first ones, friendly ones and even crazy ones. I like them all and have gladly spent my entire professional career focused on the goal “What is best for the cow!”

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Research MSc thesis

Comparison of bulk tank milk and water microbiota at Brazilian dairy farms during the dry and wet seasons

3 min read , 

The bulk tank milk (BTM) microbiota is highly diverse, with multiple contamination sources contributing to its complexity. It has been suggested that the continuous use of water during the cleaning process and the frequentl poor quality of water in dairy farms may negatively impact the microbiological quality of raw milk.Read more

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