bigbull338
Well-known member
if a cow comes down with staph.theres only 1 cure.an thats cut her head off.because if you keep her youll spread it to the rest of the herd.staph cows are no good.
Mastitis
- Thread starter Hunny Do Ranch
- Start date
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Are we talking about the same pathogen here? I've seen cows go 2-3 more lactations as a confirmed staph cow (via culture) before too many quarters are infected or milk production gets too low.
I've also tried treating staph cows... 99% won't clear up (results confirmed via culture, not visual observation), but I have had one confirmed staph cow that I treated and she was confirmed clean by culture two or three times several months after coming off antibiotics. The quarter doesn't milk worth talking about nowdays; I think she was succeptible to another pathogen (or perhaps staph again) and she came down with mastitis again about a year ago. Wasn't treated after that as that would have been a waste of money. I haven't cultured it yet; maybe I'll do that next time I'm home.
FYI, a cow doesn't have to have a clinical case of mastitis (abnormal milk) to be a positive staph cow. I've seen positive cows go 3-4 months without showing any signs and being one of the top milkers, but when the milk is frozen and cultured they're positive staph cows with high staph growths on the culture plates.
I've also tried treating staph cows... 99% won't clear up (results confirmed via culture, not visual observation), but I have had one confirmed staph cow that I treated and she was confirmed clean by culture two or three times several months after coming off antibiotics. The quarter doesn't milk worth talking about nowdays; I think she was succeptible to another pathogen (or perhaps staph again) and she came down with mastitis again about a year ago. Wasn't treated after that as that would have been a waste of money. I haven't cultured it yet; maybe I'll do that next time I'm home.
FYI, a cow doesn't have to have a clinical case of mastitis (abnormal milk) to be a positive staph cow. I've seen positive cows go 3-4 months without showing any signs and being one of the top milkers, but when the milk is frozen and cultured they're positive staph cows with high staph growths on the culture plates.
bigbull338
Well-known member
in my book a staph cow is 1 with a 500,000scc or more .that you cant get to come down to 200,000 or lower.cows like that keep your bulk scc samples high.
GMN
Well-known member
milkmaid said:
bigbull338":2zr7jaw3 said:
That's not neccessarily a staph cow. A cow with a high SCC might have ecoli, or strep, or something entirely different. Or she may not have anything at all... some cows just run higher than others, especially at the start of a lactation. And, I've heard of herds with over 30% infected with staph, and a 200,000 SCC. Boss was running around 180,000 SCC in the fall and had about 26% of the herd as confirmed staph cows. Herds infected with ecoli and other coliforms sometimes run a much higher SCC.
A "staph cow" is one that actually is infected with a pathogen called staph aureus.
GMN... that'd be a long story to explain.
GMN
Well-known member
milkmaid":4dw4plzj said:bigbull338":4dw4plzj said:
That's not neccessarily a staph cow. A cow with a high SCC might have ecoli, or strep, or something entirely different. Or she may not have anything at all... some cows just run higher than others, especially at the start of a lactation. And, I've heard of herds with over 30% infected with staph, and a 200,000 SCC. Boss was running around 180,000 SCC in the fall and had about 26% of the herd as confirmed staph cows. Herds infected with ecoli and other coliforms sometimes run a much higher SCC.
A "staph cow" is one that actually is infected with a pathogen called staph aureus.
And sometimes the ones that paddle test positive, severely, come back with a cell count real low.
I still say if you have a cow that is confirmed with the bug staph aureus, unless cought real early, and in a younger animal, its not gonna be curable, best bet is to drop the quarter or cull the cow.
GMN
GMN... that'd be a long story to explain.
TexasBred
Well-known member
A lot of mastitis is subclinical and can only be caught via culturing or CMT will catch some strains. I've seen individual cows show 10 million SSC on DHIA report and be giving over 100 lbs. per day. Even in a larger herd just a few cows like that can put a big dent in your mailbox milk price. They're just not worth it. Sell'em and let some hobbiest use them to raise babies or something.
