Stop mastitis before it starts: a clean milking routine in 8 steps

Mastitis is an infection of the udder. Farmers usually notice it only when the quarter is hot and swollen or the milk has clots. But for every cow with visible signs, several more have a hidden (subclinical) infection: the milk looks normal, yet the yield is lower and the bacteria spread to other cows through hands and cloths.

What mastitis really costs you

• Less milk from the infected quarter, often for the rest of the lactation
• Milk thrown away during treatment and the withdrawal period
• Medicine and vet fees
• A quarter can be lost for good; badly affected cows are often sold early

Prevention costs far less than any of these.

How it spreads

Bacteria enter through the teat canal. They come from:

• Dirty hands, a shared cloth or a dirty milking bucket
• A wet, muddy floor or dung on the udder
• Infected cows milked before healthy ones
• Teat injuries and cracked teat skin

After milking, the teat opening stays open for about 30 minutes to an hour. If the cow lies down on a dirty floor during that time, germs walk straight in.

Find hidden cases: the strip cup and CMT

1. Strip cup: squirt the first 2–3 streams of each teat onto a dark cloth or a strip cup. Flakes, clots or watery milk mean clinical mastitis.
2. California Mastitis Test (CMT): a cheap paddle and reagent from veterinary shops. Mix equal milk and reagent from each quarter; if it thickens into a gel, that quarter has a hidden infection. Test every cow once a month and every fresh cow after calving.

The 8-step milking routine

1. Wash and dry your hands. Keep nails short. Gloves are even better.
2. Milk in the same order every time: healthy young cows first, older cows next, and infected or treated cows last.
3. Check the foremilk from every teat in the strip cup.
4. Clean the teats only, not the whole udder; water running down the udder carries dirt to the teats.
5. Dry each cow with its own cloth or paper towel. One shared cloth for the whole herd spreads mastitis from cow to cow.
6. Milk with the full hand, squeezing from top to bottom. Do not pull the teat with finger and thumb ("stripping" or knuckling): it injures the teat.
7. Dip the teats after milking in a teat dip (iodine-based dips are common) so that each teat end is covered.
8. Keep the cow standing for 30 minutes by giving fresh feed right after milking, so the teat canal closes before she lies down.

Keep the shed on your side

• Clean dung from the floor at least twice a day; keep bedding dry.
• Repair rough floors and sharp edges that cut teats.
• Clip long hair around the udder of crossbred cows.
• Clean buckets and cans with hot water and detergent after every milking, and dry them in the sun.

If a cow gets mastitis

• Call your vet early. A case treated in the first day heals faster.
• Use the full course of medicine and keep to the milk withdrawal period written on the label. Selling milk with antibiotic residues is unsafe and illegal.
• Ask your vet about dry cow therapy at drying off, the best time to clear hidden infections.
• A cow that gets mastitis again and again may cost more than she earns; consider culling her.

Record every case

In FarmFlows, record each mastitis case and its treatment under Health for that cow. You will quickly see which cows, quarters and seasons are a problem, and the milk record shows the yield before and after.

Quick checklist

• Strip cup at every milking, CMT once a month
• Clean hands, one cloth per cow, full-hand milking
• Teat dip after milking, cow standing for 30 minutes
• Infected cows milked last
• Respect the withdrawal period; record every case