A new multidisciplinary research team composed of Christopher Fernandez-Prada, David Langlais, Jocelyn Dubuc, Éric Paquet, and Simon Dufour, based in the province of Québec, and involving multiple centers (UdeM, McGill, and U. Laval), has decided to explore how genetic mutations may contribute to cases of antibiotic treatment failure, AMR, and persistent or recurring infections in dairy cows. If these mutations can be identified, the research team could develop new tests to predict how easily a cow will get sick. In addition, the research team will also shed new light on how a weak immune syst ..read more

My journey into milk quality consulting began when I was 12 and made the decision I wanted to become a veterinarian. Growing up on a small, general livestock farm in Michigan, USA I learned about caring for many farm animals. By the time I graduated from high school, my favorite farm animal had become the cow. I cannot explain the attraction. I like cows - both dairy and beef, mature and newborn, growing heifers and just fresh first ones, friendly ones and even crazy ones. I like them all and have gladly spent my entire professional career focused on the goal “What is best for the cow ..read more

The bulk tank milk (BTM) microbiota is highly diverse, with multiple contamination sources contributing to its complexity. It has been suggested that the continuous use of water during the cleaning process and the frequentl poor quality of water in dairy farms may negatively impact the microbiological quality of raw milk.Read more ..read more

William Smits had the opportunity to travel around few of the main milk producing regions of New Zealand and Australia and have a closer look at the way cows are milked from the perspective of milking efficiency, milk quality and udder health. He shares his impressions and findings based on observing milking sessions and doing wet testing in 17 farms, and discussions with the farmers, the milking system dealers and his colleagues at DeLaval ..read more

Antibiotic resistance in human- and animal-associated pathogens is a well-known and emerging problem (Singer et al., 2003; Dong et al., 2021). Although the contribution of the dairy sector to the antibiotic resistance problem in humans is quite low, we should act more responsibly when it comes to using antibiotics (Tel et al., 2012; Nobrega et al., 2018). Antibiotics on dairy herds are typically used related to udder health and a reduction in the use is possible by maximizing prevention and by applying selective dry cow therapy. Implementing selective treatment of non-severe clinical mastitis ..read more

The majority of antimicrobial use on dairy farms is for mastitis treatment and prevention. Dry cow antibiotic therapy (DCT) is the administration of long acting intramammary antibiotics at the time of dry off. This practice gained widespread implementation in the 1960’s as part of the ‘five-point plan’. Blanket dry cow therapy, which involves treatment of all quarters of all cows at dry-off, has been commonplace in Ireland for many years. However, the recent European Veterinary Medicines Regulation (2019/6) and the requirement to use antibiotics more prudently, means that preventive antibiotic ..read more

Paulina Lingers is a veterinarian working with Växa in Sweden. Växa is the largest association of cattle farmers in the country with 200,000 dairy cows registered in their database, Kokontrollen. She is a project leader and participant in a range of projects including communication and animal health. Her role includes developing new ways for better collaboration within the company's various departments. M²-magazine asked Paulina about her background and her work ..read more

In the last decade, regulatory bodies have taken actions to encourage reduction of antimicrobial use (AMU) in both livestock and companion animals, especially at EU level. This has resulted in a tremendous reduction of 47% of AMU in 10 years! Then came the New Veterinary Regulation, going further, but all restrictions being still managed at Member State level. Looking at DCT, selective treatment has been promoted and implemented for about more than a decade now. In this newsletter, Dr. Stéphane Flock elaborates on another approach to further reduce the use of antimicrobials on dairy farms ..read more

Dairy heifers are a sizable financial investment for producers and therefore should enter first lactation healthy in order to yield good return on investment. Most mammary growth and development occur during a dairy heifer’s first gestation and this initial development determines the number of secretory mammary epithelial cells in the lactating gland. The heifer mammary gland prior to first gestation is primarily composed of the mammary fat pad and contains minimal mammary epithelium. With the initiation of pregnancy, this previously existing mammary fat pad is replaced by secretory mammary ep ..read more

Post-milking teat disinfection, is there still something interesting to write about this topic? It has been widely covered since it has been proven to reduce the incidence of new intramammary infections. Although the state-of-the-art is well-known, we are often surprised by how this step is performed daily on the farm. This article will underline the importance of teat disinfection after milking. The worldwide regulatory positioning will give us some insights on how a teat dip is evaluated during the registration process. We’ll have a close look at the EU biocide directive, the main active sub ..read more