TRAINING and developing written procedures can have a significant impact on mastitis levels.

Speaking at a farm meeting organised by Genus ABS and supported by Boehringer Ingelheim, Dr Pamela Ruegg from the University of Wisconsin reminded the audience that mastitis is, in essence, a simple disease.

"We know that 99 per cent of mastitis occurs when the bacterial exposure at the teat end exceeds the ability of the immune defensive system of the cow to deal with it," she said. "Control must focus on keeping bacteria away from the teat..

"It is important to remember that effective mastitis control is the result of the cumulative effect of adopting consistent best management practices, and many of them. There is no one single action that will solve the problem.

"Several things need to be done correctly and consistently. Mastitis control is based on good management of people, cows and the environment. The starting point has to be the people."

Dr Ruegg suggested that far too few people involved in milking cows really understand why the stages in a routine are important and why they need to be done consistently, stressing that performance improves when people understand why they need to do something and the benefits of getting it right. The provision of written routines, staff training and the adoption of a complete routine all reduce the incidence of clinical cases.

"If you are serious about reducing mastitis make sure everyone involved in milking follows the same routine and carries out tasks in the same way. We find that the fastest milking speeds and lowest clinical incidence of mastitis are achieved with staff who have been properly trained to understand why they are being asked to do specific tasks.

"Take forestripping for example. It is the only way to identify cows with mild clinical cases and herds that forestrip routinely find 50 per cent more of these cases. Finding them early means they can be treated before they go on to become more serious."

Dr Ruegg recommended all farms should have written routines, even where only a few people are involved in milking. She said the actual task of writing the routine down makes them think about how they milk and may improve the routine.

"Once people have been trained and are following the same routine, choose a selection of appropriate key performance indicators to monitor performance. These can be numbers such as the cell count or the clinical cases per month. Or it could be a target for the effectiveness of teat dipping. "

Richard Echeverri, Genus ABS Technical Services support veterinary manager, suggested that all too often application of dip is inconsistent and inadequate. To ensure post-dipping is being carried out effectively he advised a target 75 per cent of the skin being covered on 100 per cent of teats. As well as being suitably formulated, it helps if the product is clearly visible such as Genus Valiant.