Fadil Alawi
Agrihealth NZ Ltd, Newzealand
Title: Mastitis in dairy cows: Symptoms, causes, preventions and treatments
Biography
Biography: Fadil Alawi
Abstract
Mastitis is the most prevalent production limiting disease affecting dairy herds world- wide, despite the widespread implementation of mastitis control strategies. The most important effects of mastitis include reduced milk production, premature culling of chronically affected cows and significant expenditure involving drug costs for the treatment of clinical and subclinical cases plus the costs of preventative treatments and the costs associated with the discarding of milk from affected animals.
The predominant contagious pathogens are Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae, and Corynebacterium bovis, while the predominant environmental pathogens are Escherichia coli, Streptococcus uberis and Streptococcus dysgalactiae. Bovine mastitis has become recognised as is an increasing problem in low somatic cell count herds and this has resulted in the rapid increase in the administering of treatments such as teat seals with or without concomitant dosing of intramammary antibiotics.
Traditionally, treatment of mastitis has relied heavily on the use of antibiotics and management procedures involving hygiene measures such as the use of teat disinfectants and thorough and effective cleaning of the milking equipment. The strong reliance on the use of antibiotics has created problems of bacterial resistance and the possibility of milk residues, both of which have potential impacts on the consumer. These two factors have given impetus to the developing of alternative more sustainable treatment options such as vaccines, use of natural antimicrobials like plant essential oils and a myriad of other more natural long-term approaches. These are discussed as part of the overall review of mastitis that follows.
Specifically, the presentation begins by providing information on the symptoms, causes, prevention and treatment of bovine mastitis. This is followed by the presenting of a range of non-traditional treatment approaches with a focus on the recent development of more natural options involving plant extracts.