7 June 2023 | Product and Promotions Guide
W
hen it comes to mastitis treatment, many factors impact its effectiveness. While we
know some of those variables, there are many unknowns. Understanding known and
unknown variables will help uncover the best treatment decisions for each cow.
Dr. Pamela Ruegg, professor of large animal clinical sciences at the Michigan State University
College of Veterinary Medicine, recently summarized research-based evidence related to clinical
mastitis treatment.
1
Research findings over many years and under a variety of management
practices provide insights into what we know about mastitis and the effectiveness of treatment.
What we do know What we do know
Mastitis treatment
products have similar
efficacy.
With rare exceptions, researchers
report few significant differences
between approved intramammary
(IMM) antibiotics in achieving
bacteriological or clinical cure rates.
Therefore, producers may consider
other product characteristics to
make treatment decisions. These
might include treatment duration
and total time that the milk must
be withheld, slaughter withdrawal
time, product cost and other
considerations.
Normal milk is not a
reliable indicator of
effectiveness.
Producers sometimes judge
treatment success based on milk
returning to a normal appearance.
However, this outcome is not a
good indicator of therapeutic
success. A bacteriological cure
– or the elimination of bacteria
– often occurs well before milk
returns to normal. Even with
effective treatment, inflammation
can remain in the quarter and
cause abnormal milk for several
days after bacteria have been
eliminated.
Don't forget the difference
between cow-level and
quarter-level somatic cell
count (SCC).
While quarter-level SCC is a
reasonably accurate metric of
treatment success, cow-level SCC
is an "average" of four quarters – so
cow-level SCC is a poorly sensitive
way to assess treatment success in
any one of those quarters.
