ITHACA, N.Y. — Clinical Mastitis (CM) is a common yet potentially fatal disease that affects dairy cows. This disease can cause inflammation of the udder, milk parenchyma, hardening of the udder, and other issues. In addition to being painful for the cows, mastitis decreases milk production and quality. Ultimately, this results in a loss of income.
When treating CM, on-farm or clinical culturing can be used to identify the cause of the infection and determine if treatment is necessary. Just like with human health, understanding the cause of the infection allows it to be treated most effectively. About 25% of New Yorkâs dairy cow population has access to lab services that can run milk cultures for CM cases. However, most cows have limited access due to not being near a milk lab or veterinary clinic proficient in milk culturing. NYFVI is funding a project to address this challenge.
Researchers at Cornell University will create an on-line education module that will teach on-farm and in-clinic milk culturing techniques. The project will enable farms and veterinary clinics in underserved areas to begin or improve culturing. If successful, researchers on the project estimate that the project could increase the number of cows that are managed through this science-driven practice by 100,0000.
Project leader Daryl Nydam said of the project, âFuture success in the dairy industry involves improving management practices at the cow-level. With social pressure to be stewards of antibiotic use, pathogen-based treatment of clinical mastitis will help farmers more precisely use these intramammary treatments. Previous studies show that pathogen-based treatment of clinical mastitis can reduce antimicrobial use by 30-65% and increases cash flow ~$25/cow/year. However, many farms have limited access to the lab tests that can help drive these treatment decisions in a timely fashion. This project will develop an on-line education module to teach or improve on-farm and in-clinic milk culturing techniques. This module will allow 12 farms and 3 veterinary clinics in underserved areas of New York to either start performing milk cultures (startup package provided) or improve their current system of culturing milk samples.â
The New York Farm Viability Institute is a nonprofit grantmaking organization. The organization runs a competitive grant program that seeks to fund agricultural research and education projects that will create and share knowledge to improve the economic viability of New Yorkâs farmers. If you are a New York farmer and would like to get involved in our review process, please reach out to Aileen Randolph at arandolph@nyfvi.org.
–New York Farm Viability Institute
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