jimmer
Member
- Location
- East Devon
depends if i got bull calves to feed
Have I got a scc problem
- Thread starter William Mellor
- Start date
More to life
Member
- Location
- Somerset
We do the same thing
dinderleat
Member
- Location
- Wells
Quarter milks?
jimmer
Member
- Location
- East Devon
i have just opened my milk recording results and for me i am pleased
84% under 200
4.5% millionaires
84% under 200
4.5% millionaires
mr grumpy
Member
- Location
- East Devon
Is there any effect on calves with feed them high SCC milk?
jimmer
Member
- Location
- East Devon
in theory there is a big disease cross over risk obviously
but unless they get sick they seem to do as well
mine are on ad lib dump milk
William Mellor
Member
- Location
- Peak District
High scc cows get antibiotics (cows that have been recorded over 200scc for the last 3 recordings) and teat sealant, cows under 200scc and less that 2 cases of mastitis in the last lacation just have sealant. If they have never been high scc or ever had mastitis I don't even bother with teat sealantNot too bad thenHow are you drying them off? Are you using antibiotics and sealant?
jimmer
Member
- Location
- East Devon
I would be sealing everything else you are going to be leaving these cows open to pick up an infection during the dry period/calving time. Not worth risking it for the price of a few tubes of sealant imho
William Mellor
Member
- Location
- Peak District
Are you saying i should be? We only ever started using teat sealant a few years ago and never had any problems before, then started teat sealing thos that had dry tubes and now do some that haven't had dry tubes. See it from this point of view, do you teatseal an heifer? I now that an heifer has never been milked before so teats have never been opened but if the cows are clean and are in a clean environment do they really need teatsealant if they have never caused a problem before?
jimmer
Member
- Location
- East Devon
sorry if i sounded a bit blunt , i didnt mean to be quite so
as i see it , as time has gone on we have developed an animal with lower resistance to infections , we have burdened it with more pressure to yeild higher , and years of antibiotic use has probably bred some sort of resistance into them
i hear of more and more people starting to seal maiden heifers a couple of months before calving
not casting any aspersions, but if you milk her out fully , dip with excellent barrier dip, leave to stand for an hour , move to clean pasture in good dry weather and keep the flies away from her , there is as good a chance of a perfect dry up , but as we all know this isnt always the case
teat sealant put in cleanly , means you can get away with a lot more
as i see it , as time has gone on we have developed an animal with lower resistance to infections , we have burdened it with more pressure to yeild higher , and years of antibiotic use has probably bred some sort of resistance into them
i hear of more and more people starting to seal maiden heifers a couple of months before calving
not casting any aspersions, but if you milk her out fully , dip with excellent barrier dip, leave to stand for an hour , move to clean pasture in good dry weather and keep the flies away from her , there is as good a chance of a perfect dry up , but as we all know this isnt always the case
teat sealant put in cleanly , means you can get away with a lot more
More to life
Member
- Location
- Somerset
With respect Will teat sealant is the biggest step forward in mastitis control in my time milking cows it's a must for all cows.
Clay52
Member
- Location
- Outer Space
I'll never teat seal heifers. If it was to come to that it's telling me I've failed badly somewhere.
More to life
Member
- Location
- Somerset
That's only for ZN breeding
jimmer
Member
- Location
- East Devon
That's only for ZN breeding
More to life
Member
- Location
- Somerset
I was only half joking as that's where it's popular
dinderleat
Member
- Location
- Wells
The quality of mastitic milk is reduced - less quality protein. They would have to consume more to get the same solids.
We know its got bacteria in there - what effect will that have on the calf? There is some evidence to suggest a risk of infecting heifers with mastitis pathogens as a calf that could then go on and cause disease later.
Then we move into antibiotic resistance. We know that calves fed milk treated with antibiotics do get altered bacterial profiles in their faeces, and this translates through into more antibiotic resistant bacteria in the environment (compared to milk powder fed calves). We are feeding calves sub-therapeutic doses of antibiotic and this will allow partially resistant bacteria to survive and potentially promote the development of further resistance.
I do my very best to discourage the practice. In terms of responsible antibiotic usage it would be a bloody good idea to make it illegal.
Clay52
Member
- Location
- Outer Space
What about colostrum and first few days milking from cows treated with dry cow tubes being fed to calves.
The antibiotic level is very much lower (sometimes undetectable) in colostrum. A very different affair to tubing a cow 12 hours ago and then feeding the milk to a calf.