Scc

we have over the last number of yrs we have only just managed to keep with my buyers payment bands of 250. We found it easy to clear up clots but not the cell count.
this yr due having culled( because they were empty) the worst 2. Much better cubicle management during the dry period and a change in teat dip means we are avg 50 lower than this time last yr and if it continues it will some be a 100 lower. However we have just milk recorded. The bulk sample came back at 150. 11% were over 200Individually we still had 7 millionaires and a further 23 over 200 and a further 25 over a hundred.
Is this normal for a herd avg 150 have to say I was rather disappointed
 

Jamer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Glos
I can’t help you with an answer but we are on a perpetual battle with scc over the last 12 months. Infuriating.
 
How many times a week do you actually milk the cows, I think when the owner does most of the milkngs there is less problems with scc, I dont milk record,I never have sampled a cow for scc, never above 200 but I do most of the milking and use proper DC therapy
 

andrew830

Member
We have always battled with cell counts until the bigger penaltys came in,now we are more ruthless with repeat offenders..
Another thing we have is the cell count tester from dairycenter,we test all fresh cows before they go in to the tank,some take longer than you would think to get to a reasonable level
 

mixed farm

Member
How many times a week do you actually milk the cows, I think when the owner does most of the milkngs there is less problems with scc, I dont milk record,I never have sampled a cow for scc, never above 200 but I do most of the milking and use proper DC therapy
Agree. I have an uncle, my father, my wife and myself milking, often at the same time, and we all have a different idea to when the cluster should be taken off. scc and clots are a problem at the moment and I'm putting some of it down to this.
 
How many times a week do you actually milk the cows, I think when the owner does most of the milkngs there is less problems with scc, I dont milk record,I never have sampled a cow for scc, never above 200 but I do most of the milking and use proper DC therapy
12
we only dry cow tube around 20% of the cows as the milk recordings tell us we don’t need to do the rest.
we have treated less than 8% of cows for mastitis in the last 12 months. But many of them are still high on cell count even though the quarter is back to normal and clots are gone.Hence the disappointment with the milk recoding results.
 
12
we only dry cow tube around 20% of the cows as the milk recordings tell us we don’t need to do the rest.
we have treated less than 8% of cows for mastitis in the last 12 months. But many of them are still high on cell count even though the quarter is back to normal and clots are gone.Hence the disappointment with the milk recoding results.
I know you probably have but Have to checked your vaccum level,you mentioned changing test dip,I've used kilco lanodip for over 35 years, never changed,dont get me wrong I have mastitis, comes in a few cases at a time, only 2 cases in 150 cows in the last 8 weeks,I put one of the cases down to the cow falling in the yard, I'm very fussy about cows being properly milked out,not fired out till the next milking. I also have very nearly a 12 hr split in milkings
 

Yonlass

Member
How many times a week do you actually milk the cows, I think when the owner does most of the milkngs there is less problems with scc, I dont milk record,I never have sampled a cow for scc, never above 200 but I do most of the milking and use proper DC therapy
Definitely something to be said for continuity of staff. If the same person is milking, you know what went on at the last milking-any cows that had a clot or a low yield and need checking at the next milking.
Reliefs that dip in and out, dare I say, will have a tendency to 'leave it to the next one'. They also don't feel the consequences financially if you get penalised.
Clean, dry cubicles are a must. Clean cows mean clean workers.
Try and keep tails clipped. Another way to keep everything cleaner.
If we have an iffy cow, we put a paper towel round the pipe, meaning it needs disinfecting afterwards.
Disinfect anything after the dump bucket. Throw the paper away after wiping a mastitic one. Disinfect hands after drawing one.
I do 13 milkings per week, with someone in the pit aswell. Luckily, all our reliefs are pretty good at spotting things (or at least they'll tell you 🙄).
We had a mastitis issue a couple of years ago. Cow after cow wrong, but managed to stay under the 200 (by keeping way too much milk out of the tank).
Seemed to sort it out when we got rid of a dirty worker 🤔
 

DairyGrazing

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
North West
Definitely something to be said for continuity of staff. If the same person is milking, you know what went on at the last milking-any cows that had a clot or a low yield and need checking at the next milking.
Reliefs that dip in and out, dare I say, will have a tendency to 'leave it to the next one'. They also don't feel the consequences financially if you get penalised.
Clean, dry cubicles are a must. Clean cows mean clean workers.
Try and keep tails clipped. Another way to keep everything cleaner.
If we have an iffy cow, we put a paper towel round the pipe, meaning it needs disinfecting afterwards.
Disinfect anything after the dump bucket. Throw the paper away after wiping a mastitic one. Disinfect hands after drawing one.
I do 13 milkings per week, with someone in the pit aswell. Luckily, all our reliefs are pretty good at spotting things (or at least they'll tell you 🙄).
We had a mastitis issue a couple of years ago. Cow after cow wrong, but managed to stay under the 200 (by keeping way too much milk out of the tank).
Seemed to sort it out when we got rid of a dirty worker 🤔

Touching teats as little as possible seems to be a common theme with farms with low scc and mastitis rates. Regardless of system and routine.

Not easy when you have alot of mastitis.
 

DairyGrazing

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
North West
we have over the last number of yrs we have only just managed to keep with my buyers payment bands of 250. We found it easy to clear up clots but not the cell count.
this yr due having culled( because they were empty) the worst 2. Much better cubicle management during the dry period and a change in teat dip means we are avg 50 lower than this time last yr and if it continues it will some be a 100 lower. However we have just milk recorded. The bulk sample came back at 150. 11% were over 200Individually we still had 7 millionaires and a further 23 over 200 and a further 25 over a hundred.
Is this normal for a herd avg 150 have to say I was rather disappointed


We average 110scc in the winter with under 15% high and 180scc in the summer with 15-25% high. So you are in the same area.

I looked at every cow over 200 to see what was going on individually. To see why and when they go high. I grouped them as follows

Calved in high
Mastitis stayed high
Got high during lactation
Got high during grazing fell at housing

Any spikes can you start dipping with udder gold? It will drop scc 50-100 over night.
Do you have uniform or similar? Look to see if it is dry or dim related.


Can you put your dry cows on sand to really nail that area?



We've worked hard on mastitis cases the last few years with routine, housing, culling etc Then had to vaccinate for salmonella for the first time ever after we found it in the calves and two aborted dry cows. Haven't tubed a cows since and that was in the Feb :banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:.
 
Last edited:
we have over the last number of yrs we have only just managed to keep with my buyers payment bands of 250. We found it easy to clear up clots but not the cell count.
this yr due having culled( because they were empty) the worst 2. Much better cubicle management during the dry period and a change in teat dip means we are avg 50 lower than this time last yr and if it continues it will some be a 100 lower. However we have just milk recorded. The bulk sample came back at 150. 11% were over 200Individually we still had 7 millionaires and a further 23 over 200 and a further 25 over a hundred.
Is this normal for a herd avg 150 have to say I was rather disappointed
Was the recording factored? If it was an afternoon recording on an uneven interval then the SCC will be higher. Given the stage of lactation your cows are at a 150 SCC is still quite high so you would expect to find quite a few problem cows
 

jerseycowsman

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
cornwall
we have over the last number of yrs we have only just managed to keep with my buyers payment bands of 250. We found it easy to clear up clots but not the cell count.
this yr due having culled( because they were empty) the worst 2. Much better cubicle management during the dry period and a change in teat dip means we are avg 50 lower than this time last yr and if it continues it will some be a 100 lower. However we have just milk recorded. The bulk sample came back at 150. 11% were over 200Individually we still had 7 millionaires and a further 23 over 200 and a further 25 over a hundred.
Is this normal for a herd avg 150 have to say I was rather disappointed
We’ve started using garlic boluses on high cell count cows. Clear up about 66% of them. We had same issue as you, antibiotics sort out the infection, but nearly always a carry over cell count that is hard to clear, till we started using the garlic boluses
 
Location
East Mids
Do you get the microbiology checked? We have very low rates of clinical mastitis but some chronic high SCC ladies who have never had a clinical case in their lives. Staph aureus and Strep uberis can be very hard to shift. We always have a few very high, a few more 200-500 but as the vast majority are below 100 we rarely go above 200 SCC on bulk. It used to be higher, but improved housing (ventilation in particular) and changing to selective DCT has definitely helped.

One person does all the milking, ACRs in parlour, but our cows are never particularly clean when fully housed (narrow scrape passages).
 

In the pit

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Pembrokeshire
If you've got a cow with a scc above 200 a month after calving and had dry cow tubes during the dry period ,she is chronically infected and needs culling as soon as possible otherwise she infect others.
Cows what are millionaires have got mastitis even if there are no clots and should be treated
 

Sid

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Molton
We’ve started using garlic boluses on high cell count cows. Clear up about 66% of them. We had same issue as you, antibiotics sort out the infection, but nearly always a carry over cell count that is hard to clear, till we started using the garlic boluses
Where did you source them. I love a bit of muck and magic !
In some people's eyes that's all I rely on!

Very interested in any holistic options, even with a SCC of 250 and zero ab use
 

DairyGrazing

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
North West
If you've got a cow with a scc above 200 a month after calving and had dry cow tubes during the dry period ,she is chronically infected and needs culling as soon as possible otherwise she infect others.
Cows what are millionaires have got mastitis even if there are no clots and should be treated

You wont cure those million plus cows in milk unless it's a cow who hasn't shown clinical signs as apposed to being a genuine clinical cow.
 

bigw

Member
Location
Scotland
We’ve started using garlic boluses on high cell count cows. Clear up about 66% of them. We had same issue as you, antibiotics sort out the infection, but nearly always a carry over cell count that is hard to clear, till we started using the garlic boluses

Watch they don’t taint the milk
 

cjbailey

Member
Livestock Farmer
AHDB quarter pro tool is fantastic place to start. Mastitis control is about identifying were and how its spreading and putting measure is to stop it.

Is it contagious mastitis and spread in the parlour. If there is contagious mastitis then the 5 point plan is still very effective. Is it environmental lactation origin in which cases cow accomadation and pre dip routine need looking at or dry cow origin. AHDB do some good guides to give you ideas to think about.

Culturing some new cases and some chronic can also help and I would be talking to your vet .
 

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