A new test to detect clinical mastitis has been launched in Germany in a bid to reduce the use of antibiotics in a dairy herd.
While the use of antibiotics on farms to treat livestock continues to be scrutinized, farmers are being urged to move away from the tradition of blanket treatments.
Mastitis, for example, is one of the most common and costly diseases that can be found in a dairy herd. Using antibiotics to treat mastitis may be an effective method of reducing infections, but concerns are mounting that cows can build up resistance to this method.
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In the past, farmers would normally treat the entire herd if one cow was detected with mastitis, which increased the use of antibiotics and cost the farmer more.
Now, in an era when consumers, food processors, supermarkets and governments are calling for reduced use of antibiotics in livestock, farmers are being encouraged to practice more selective treatments.
Peter Zieger practiced as a veterinarian for 11 years in Germany before moving on to work in the animal health industry. He then founded Quidee, a company looking at innovations for the dairy industry.
Zieger, who also works for Diamond V, said testing systems for mastitis have come a long way since the California, or Schalm, test introduced in the 1950s.
As times have moved on, the vet said evidence-based testing for mastitis is the way forward and will reduce the use of antibiotics.
“Antibiotic usage becomes more and more a high political issue. Most antibiotics on farm are applied for udder health. Vets and farmers therefore are urged to be more prudent with their use of antibiotics,” Zieger said.
“Blanket therapy schemes are more and more questioned these days, whereas selective treatment options are key in order to save 60 percent and more on antibiotic use.”
The vet highlighted a new test for mastitis called MastDecide from Quidee, which supplies treatment decisions within two milkings.
“MastDecide is a new cow side test that allows evidence-based treatment decisions within only two milkings. It is faster than any other comparable test,” he said.
“With MastDecide the gram-negative, gram-positive bacteria or simply no growth in clinical mastitis milk samples can be identified. With common sense that gram-negative bacteria and no growth do not necessarily need any antibacterial treatment. A farmer can save significant amount of antibiotics at similar cure rates.”
