The dreaded M word in the dairy world; Mastitis. Up until last year I had been very fortunate in my milk cow journey, to not deal with mastitis too much. I had had a few cows come down with mild cases, easily treated with dynamint cream or the occasional round of antibiotics, but last year that all changed.
Last year my good little cow, Sukey, calved and promptly came down with the worst case of mastitis that I have ever seen! After over a month of trying to get rid of it, we finally found out that it was a virtually incurable type of mastitis called Staph aureus.
After months of trying everything to cure her, she succumbed to her illness. It was a long journey filled with many learning experiences, tears and heartbreak and ultimately in the end, the only thing I was left with was experience.
Prevention and early detection is key when it comes to mastitis, so in todays post I want to take you through what mastitis is, common causes, symptoms, treatment and more.
What Causes Mastitis?
Mastitis is caused when bacteria begins to grow in the udder. Many different types of bacteria can cause mastitis, some more severe and harder to treat than others. Dairy cows are especially prone to it because of the sheer amount of milk that they are producing. Mastitis can be caused by things like genetics and predisposition, but also by bacteria entering the udder, or having the right conditions to grow in the udder. This commonly happens in cows that;
- Are under stress- For example, are dealing with other illnesses like milk fever or ketosis.
- Have teats that leak, or teat canals that do not close properly. This is a big red flag for me when buying a milk cow. A cow that has teats that leak not only can pass that trait on to their calves, but they are much more prone to bacteria entering into the udder.
- Live in muddy or dirty conditions (or prefer to lay in those conditions rather than their clean bedding)
- Have been exposed to other cows with mastitis or have had bacteria passed during milking
- Are being milked irregularly or not being milked out completely
How Do You Know Your Cow Has Mastitis?
Sometimes it is incredibly obvious, but other times it is not, and you will see no signs! Common signs of mastitis include:
- Chunky, stringy, bloody or watery milk or globs on the milk filter after straining that can not be dissolved when rubbed between your fingers
- Red, hard, swollen or hot areas on udder
- Pain or irritability from your cow
- Lethargy, high heart rate, unsteady gate, abnormal behaviour, increased temperature
- Contamination in your cheese, or milk that spoils quickly
- Salty taste in your milk
If you see any of these signs, it’s important to take action to test and treat for mastitis.
Prevention
The best thing you can do for your cow is stop mastitis before it starts. View this post on instagram where I take you through my top mastitis preventions.
How to Test for Mastitis?
Sometimes there are very visible signs and symptoms of mastitis that let you know your cow has mastitis, but other times, a test is needed to either confirm your cow has mastitis, or to detect what type of mastitis your cow has.
California Mastitis Test (CMT)
The easiest at home test for mastitis is a California mastitis test or CMT test. This is a liquid test that you can buy at most feed stores, or Amazon and it is something I recommend all milk cow owners keep on hand. If you suspect that your cow may have mastitis, all you have to do is mix a bit of the milk from that quarter with the CMT test. If it gels, it means that the milk has something called a high somatic cell count.
Somatic cells are tissue cells within the milk. Postpartum milk cows will have some natural shedding of tissue cells and this is normal. That’s why the CMT test is not ideal for postpartum cows. In all other cases, however, the somatic cells indicate white blood cells which are the type of cells deployed to fight infection. Though this test will not tell you what type of mastitis you are dealing with, it gives you an accurate indication of if you have mastitis or not.
Off Farm Lab Test
If you are wondering what type of bacteria you are dealing with, you can send a milk sample to a lab in your area. The most expensive part of this will be the shipping! So depending on where you live, this may be more or less accessible for you. Ask your vet about which lab they suggest.
When sending away a milk sample, you can request a few different tests. The first test is called a culture. A culture tells you which bacteria you are dealing with. For example, in Sukey’s case, we learned that we were dealing with Staph Aureus bacteria. The second test you can request is called a sensitivity. A sensitivity tells you which antibiotics that bacteria is sensitive to, so that you know you are hitting it with one that will kill it!
It is very important when sending a milk sample away that you handle the specimen appropriately. Accidentally contaminating your specimen can cause false positives or discrepancies in your results.
On Farm Lab Test
More and more people are setting up home labs on their farm. Setting up a milk culture lab is very simple and you can even get a grant for it from the raw milk institute if you live in the USA and are a part of their program.
If you are not, but still want to set up a on farm milk culture area, it is very simple. All you really need is an incubator (It can be a designated one or just a chick incubator) and agar plates to grow your bacteria on.
Having an on farm set up allows you to grow bacteria a lot quicker than having to send it away, cuts down the shipping cost of off farm labs, and allows you to treat mastitis, not just with broad spectrum antibiotics, but with antibiotics that are more adapt at killing the type of bacteria you are dealing with. The limitations however, are that you will need to learn how to read what type of bacteria you are dealing with, and will not be able to preform extensive sensitivity tests like off farm labs.
How Should You Treat Mastitis?
This is a difficult question because different severities of mastitis will require different methods of treating. At the end of the day, you are the one there and you have to follow your gut. So instead of telling you exactly what you should do, I’m going to tell you what I do.
Early Stages
If I notice a few clumps in the milk filter or even a few changes in the milk, I try not to panic. I most often treat holistically at first. Dynamint cream is a great thing to apply to your cow’s udder at the first hint of mastitis. I also love all of the different synergy products and keep most of them on hand. Synergy products are natural products, some oral, some topical, that give you options for treating different types of mastitis.
Things are Getting Worse
If things are getting worse or not improving with dynamint cream or synergy products, I talk to my vet about antibiotics. Most often your vet will recommend a broad spectrum intra-mammary antibiotic. Broad spectrum means that it covers some of the more common bacterial infections and intra mammary means that it is put directly into the teat canal.
If the mastitis infection has travelled farther than the udder and you are noticing a fever, or other systemic signs, it may be time to treat with an intramuscular antibiotic and anti-inflammatory medication as well. These are calls that should be made between you and your vet. The most important thing is to understand that if the infection has gone systemic, it is severe and needs antibiotics.
Even if you have begun antibiotics, never underestimate the power of holistic health. Cows that are supplemented with immunity boosting foods and probiotics will heal quicker than cows that are not.
Preventing Mastitis is Key!
At the end of the day, mastitis happens, but prevention is key! Ensure that your cow has clean fresh bedding, use a teat dip if you have a mastitis susceptible cow or other cows in the herd that have mastitis, and ensure that your cow is fully stripped out after milking. You can see how I make sure my cow is stripped out in this video here.