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Heifer Mastitis Need Not Steal Your Profits

October 2004

For many years, dairy producers assumed that mastitis in heifers was a rare occurrence. Research over the past two decades, though, shows that intramammary infections in uncalved heifers are more common than that, affecting upwards of 90 percent of all replacement heifers in some herds.

While dairy producers are all too familiar with the problems mastitis causes the milking herd – higher somatic cell counts, lower quality milk, increased culling - the price of mastitis to heifers may be less obvious. Heifers with mastitis may have impaired mammary development, reduced production performance and be more susceptible to mastitis after calving.
Fortunately, there are many common-sense measures that dairy producers can take to reduce the likelihood of heifer mastitis and improve profitability.

Contributing Factors

The first step in curbing heifer mastitis is to take a closer look at the factors that contribute to it.

Henry Dowlen, Superintendent of the University of Tennessee’s Dairy Experiment Station, long known for its research on mastitis, says there are a number of common factors among herds with high incidences of heifer mastitis.

“These herds often feed mastitis-contaminated waste milk to calves; group pre-weaned heifers; keep animals in substandard housing; allow contact between heifers and cows; employ no fly control methods; use no pre-fresh heifer program; and have existing high levels of mastitis and somatic cell counts (SCC),” Dowlen pointed out. “As well, many dairy producers see an increase in mastitis in heifers calving during the summer.”

Prevention is Key

While all heifers are vulnerable to exposure, some simple steps can be taken to reduce the risk.

1. House calves separately: Calves should be housed individually in hutches or stalls until at least one week after they are weaned. When they are grouped, watch for calves that suck on other calves and remove them immediately. This habit can spread the highly contagious Staph. aureus bacteria and cause persistent infections early in the animals’ lives. It can also contribute to heifers freshening with blind or light quarters.

Former Holstein breeder and current NAJ Director, Norm Martin, Tillamook, Ore., notes that his curious Jersey calves are more prone to sucking than the black and whites were. “We were getting a lot of three-quartered heifers,” Martin remarked. “We began using plastic nose rings on all the heifers about three and a half years ago. We’re now down to just 1-2 percent of the heifer population calving with blind quarters.”

“Each calf gets a plastic nose ring after it is weaned and moved to a group pen,” Martin explained. “Most of the rings fall out by the time the animal is a year old. But if they don’t, we’ll take them out when they start coming in the chute for breeding and vet work.”

2. Don’t feed contaminated waste milk: Discard milk from cows that are infected with Staph. aureus or Mycoplasma. The value of feeding pasteurized milk or milk replacer has been stressed numerous times, with good cause.

3. House heifers separately from dry cows: As common as the practice is, strive to house and pasture dry cows and heifers separately.

4. Control flies: Flies are known vectors in the spread of Staph. aureus from infected cows to heifers. Fly bites, particularly those from stable and horn flies, create lesions on teats that allow bacteria to colonize. And since fly populations can increase rapidly, dairy producers need to control flies early on.

5. Provide a clean, sanitary environment: Take a closer look at the environment in which your heifers live. Avoid wet, dirty quarters that encourage the growth of pathogens and fly populations. Make sure feed bunks are cleaned routinely and old feed is disposed. Freshen heifers in sanitary, dry calving facilities.

Says Dana Metzger, Multi-Rose Jerseys, Rock Rapids, Iowa, “The key to calving heifers without mastitis is to keep the environment clean and dry and control the flies.” Strict adherence to this, along with two J-5 vaccinations, one at two months from calving and another at three weeks out, has led to a nearly mastitis-free Jersey herd.

Pre-Partum Antibiotic Treatments

In many newer herd management situations, where heifers are moved around or raised by custom heifer growers, it is difficult to monitor the environment. Such is the case of Jersey breeder Dean Blackhurst, Pine Grove, Utah.

“Our heifers are raised in confinement off the farm,” he said. “We don’t have complete control over the environment because the daily chores are handled by someone else,” he remarked. “About two years ago, we started to notice an increase in heifer mastitis. In some groups, we found 70 percent of the heifers had mastitis in one or more quarters.”

For Blackhurst, the cure to his heifer mastitis problem was the adoption of a pre-partum antibiotic treatment program.

“Since we added the heifer mastitis program, we’ve had very few cases of heifers calving with mastitis,” said Blackhurst. “Our program is pretty simple, but effective. Two to three weeks before calving, we treat every heifer with a non-lactating cow product.”

Dale Smith, Smith Haven Jerseys, Hamburg, Minn., also added a pre-partum antibiotic treatment program to his management program when he noticed increased cases of heifer mastitis some four to five years ago. “After we tried a few things, we settled on treating our heifers with the same program as our dry cows,” explained Smith. “That means J-vaccinations at eight weeks and four weeks from calving. At the four-week mark, we also treat each quarter with a non-lactating treatment and Orbeseal.”

Orbeseal is a non-antibiotic intramammary teat sealant.

“We noticed improvements right away when we used the dry cow treatments,” Smith said. “But, we found even greater improvements when we combined them with Orbeseal.”

Smith remarked, “Today, we might calve just one in 40 or 50 heifers with mastitis.”

One of the big pluses of a pre-partum antibiotic program is that it is proactive and cost effective. “Treatment can be done during a period of time when the dairy producer doesn’t have to throw out any milk or worry about milk residues,” commented Dowlen. His research shows that a pre-partum antibiotic treatment program could yield the dairy producer an extra $174.92 per heifer in the first lactation alone.

Martin based his heifer mastitis program on Dowlen’s recommendations after he heard him speak at the AJCA Annual Meeting in 2002. Like Blackhurst and Smith, cases of heifer mastitis among his 750 head of Martin Dairy Jerseys today are almost nonexistent.

This wasn’t always the case, however. “We started a heifer mastitis program 18 months ago because 20-25 percent of our replacement heifers were calving with mastitis,” explained Martin. “We use a milk-cow tube to treat heifers at three weeks and again at one week from calving. We also use Orbeseal to seal teat ends.”

“The first eight or nine weeks, I was keeping pretty close track of the number of the cases,” revealed Martin. “Now, though, I don’t pay it much mind as we’ve had just two cases in seven months.”

Heifers can be treated successfully with either dry cow treatments, like Blackhurst and Smith, or lactating cow treatments, like Martin. Generally, they are most effective when administered in the third trimester of pregnancy.

Care must be given in using these products, as residue can remain in the milk and render it unmarketable, especially if heifers calve early.

For this reason, Dowlen and the University of Tennessee recommend infusing quarters with a lactating cow product two to three weeks before calving. Dowlen says, “The very benefits of dry cow treatments are also their downfalls. They are designed to stay in the cow’s udder a long time, so they do.”

Quality Milk Equals More Profitable Milk

Reduce the number of mastitis cases among heifers and you’ll improve the quality of the milk in the tank and increase milk premiums.

This was one of the issues that benefited most from Smith’s change in heifer mastitis protocol. “Four or five years ago, we had first-lactation heifers with somatic cell counts around 200-300,000,” remarked Smith. “Today, most of them freshen in with counts under 100,000. And, they carry this all the way through their lactation.”

Jerry and Sue Speilman’s Heartland Jerseys, Seneca, Kan., noticed similar benefits from their heifer mastitis program. “In December 2002, our DHIA test sheet showed we had 66 head with counts under 142,000, some 24 head with counts over 142,000 and nine with counts greater than a million,” remarked Craig Steinlage, herdsman. “In August 2004, we had 88 head with counts less than 142,000, six with counts over 142,000 and just one with a count over a million.”

Heartland’s proactive heifer mastitis program includes treatment with a lactating cow product, Orbeseal and a post-dip three weeks before calving. Heifers are also given vaccines to prevent scours in calves and mastitis after calving.

“I believe most dairy producers would benefit from establishing a heifer mastitis program,” said Smith. “The practice goes a long way toward the production of high quality milk – a mission every dairy producer should have.”

Buying Heifers

When a dairy producer purchases a heifer, the udder should be examined and cultured, if necessary, before she is introduced into the herd.

Palpate the mammary glands for hard or lumpy tissue and check secretions. If the secretion is thick and honey-like, the gland is healthy. If the secretion is watery and shows signs of clots or flakes, the milk will need to be cultured for mastitis by a veterinarian.

Since buying and selling cattle is the lifeblood of many Registered Jersey breeders, Jersey Marketing Service (JMS) takes precautions to examine all cattle that are consigned to its sales.

“To ensure confidence about health issues, including heifer mastitis, the Board of Directors adopted a written biosecurity protocol that JMS follows for each sale,” said Herby Lutz, JMS Manager.

“Each quarter is examined using gloves and single-service towels,” Lutz explained. “If a problem is found, a germicidal teat dip is applied to the teat, then removed with a single-service towel.

“The teat end is cleaned with an alcohol swab, a non-lactating treatment is administered and a germicidal post-dip is applied,” added Lutz. “Finally, the chute is cleaned and disinfected with a bleach solution after the animal leaves.”

“Teat ends are opened only if treatment is necessary,” Lutz stressed. “All treatments are recorded and announced from the sale box for buyer awareness and confidence.”

Make Heifers a Priority

Since heifers are the future of the dairy herd, they need to be given a good start to reach full potential. Many dairy producers, however, find it a challenge to work with their heifers.

Martin has resolved this issue by incorporating his heifer care program into his hoof-trimming program for the milking cows. “Every Tuesday, when we trim hooves, we put the heifers that need treatment through the chute,” explained Martin. “The table puts them on their side and restrains their feet so that we can do a really good, careful job treating them.”

Blackhurst, with a smaller operation, puts heifers in headlocks, then has one person hold the heifers and another apply treatments. “A tilt table would sure make the job easier,” said Blackhurst. “But, this works for us. We just make sure we take extra precaution to clean teat ends and do a good job. We don’t want to create a problem for ourselves.”

Blackhurst takes extra care with his heifers because he finds that mastitis cases are more difficult to cure in first-calf heifers than in older milking cows. “Because they have so much edema in the udder, it’s hard to clean up,” he remarked. “Sometimes it takes us a week or more to clean them up. And, their risk of getting mastitis again is higher.”

Research proves this, showing that more than 60 percent of Staph. aureus infections in heifers continue into the second lactation.
In summing his thoughts on heifer mastitis management, Blackhurst says, “This is just another one of those jobs that you don’t want to have to do. But, the benefits are too great for the amount of effort it takes.”