Environmental Mastitis

Question 1

What is the economic impact of environmental impact compared to contagious mastitis?

Answer 1

• Environment mastitis causes losses of discarded/ non-saleable milk with clinical disease
• Contagious milk cause loss from decreased milk production in sub-clinical

Question 2

What are common pathogens found in enviromental mastitis?

Answer 2

Common major pathogens - Coliform bacteria, Streptococci (not agalactiae)

Less common major bacteria - fungi/yeasts, algae (Prototheca)

Common minor pathogens- Staph sp. other than S. aureus

Question 3

Where does environmental mastitis pathogens originate?

Answer 3

• Intestinal flora from feces
• Soil and water
• Skin/ other body sites
• Ubiquitous on farms

Question 4

How do you control environmental mastitis in cows?

Answer 4

• Allow cows to lay down in clean, dry, comfortable stalls of proper length
• Rotate pastures
• Avoid overcrowding
• Remove manure frequently
• Have properly ventilated barns protected from environment
• Clip/ heat remove hair from udders
• Effective per-milking teat cleaning
• Regular machine evaluation
• Clean, dry post-milking environment
• Clean, dry calving area (ideally cleaned between calvings)
• Teat sealant
• Vaccinate against core LPS antigens –>
  reduces severity(none againts)
• Give good nutrition

Question 5

What type of bedding do you want to use in cows to prevent environmental mastitis?

Answer 5

• Sand is preferable –> inorganic and comfortable

- Don’t use organic bedding –> supports more bacterial growth, more work for the farm

Question 6

When does the incidence of environmental mastitis increase?

Answer 6

• Milk gland susceptible to mastitis during dry period
• Early infection is first 2 weeks, late is last 2 weeks
• Infection may not be clinical until after calving –> gland is sensitive during early lactation (periparturient immunosuppresion, increased milk yield, concurrent disease)

Question 7

When is the milk gland more susceptible to mastitis: during dry-off or calving?

Answer 7

Both actually!

• Dry-off –> treat with antibiotics to prevent gram positive mastitis though many environmental pathogens are resistant
• Calving –> Antibiotic concentration from dry period has declined making gland susceptible to all environmental pathogens