Magazine on Mastitis and Milk quality for the dairy professional

#42_2025

Interview

Interview with Professor emeritus Mônica Maria Oliveira Pinho Cerqueira, Brazil

21 min read ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

Mônica Maria Oliveira Pinho Cerqueira is a Veterinary Medicine graduate from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), with a Master’s degree in Veterinary Medicine (1988) and a Ph.D. in Animal Science (2000) from the same institution. Currently, she serves as Professor Emeritus at UFMG, following a distinguished career focused on milk quality, mastitis, dairy microbiology and milk-borne diseases. She held leadership roles from 2004 to 2018 as Deputy general coordinator, general coordinator, and technical coordinator of the Milk Quality Analysis Laboratory (LabUFMG), an MAPA-accredited lab and part of the Brazilian Network of Milk Quality Control Laboratories (RBQL).

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Management

Milk production and mastitis research in Ireland

14 min read ,  ,  , 

Ireland has a rich tradition of dairy farming. With over 16,000 commercial dairy farmers supplying milk to approximately 30 milk processing cooperatives (Central Statistics Office, 2024), it contributes significantly to the Irish economy. Most farms in Ireland operate a spring calving system (where cows calve between February and April and are dried-off between November and December), with a number of herds producing milk during the winter months. The average herd size according to the last survey was 92 cows (National Farm Survey, 2023) and comprised of mostly owner-operated farms, with family as the most common source of help around the farm. The above mentioned factors contribute to a significant workload for farmers in specific times of the year, coinciding with times in the cow’s productive cycle when they are most at risk of acquiring new infections (i.e. shortly before and after calving and shortly after drying-off).

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Advisor@work

Nihat Çakır: the influence of childhood memories on my career choice

15 min read ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

One of the most significant turning points in our lives is choosing a career, and I can attest that my journey was profoundly influenced by my childhood experiences. Growing up in a small town in Bulgaria, my early years were closely connected with nature and surrounded by animals. My grandfather’s farm was an enchanting place where life flourished in every corner. The love and care he extended to the animals deeply inspired me from a young age.

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Focus

The importance of accurate mastitis diagnostics – unique profile for each farm

37 min read ,  ,  ,  , 

The introduction of PCR technology has revolutionized the field of veterinary diagnostics and gained increasingly acceptance and ground in mastitis diagnostics. High sensitivity and capability of detecting DNA makes PCR useful in detecting infections caused by pathogens that may not grow well in standard culture conditions, but have raised questions over the years of how it compares to conventional culture, is it too sensitive and how should the results be interpreted in practice?

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