What is mastitis?

Mastitis is a disease that can affect the mammary gland of any mammal, including humans. In cows, this disease arises when bacteria enter the udder and establish an infection. Clinical mastitis infections usually present with visible abnormalities in the milk, the udder may be hot, swollen and painful and the animal may have an elevated body temperature. A raised somatic cell count, without any clinical symptoms can be used to identify sub-clinical mastitis. Mastitis can become a herd problem if a lot of the cows become infected. It impacts on animal welfare, milk quality, value and production.

Early detection of mastitis is important to avoid any damage to the cow or the spread of infection to other cows in the herd. Procedures to detect early cases of mastitis include visual examination of the foremilk, measurement of the somatic cell count and the Californian Mastitis Test. Clinical cases of mastitis can be treated with antibiotics under the direction of a veterinarian. The best way to avoid mastitis is through strict farming protocols for good milking hygiene.

Extra Information:

CellCheck is the national mastitis control programme, coordinated and facilitated by Animal Health Ireland. The building blocks of the CellCheck programme include the CellCheck Farm Guidelines for Mastitis Control, the development of service provider training and farmer workshops.

Cows with mastitis not only produce milk with more somatic cells, they also produce milk containing less casein, less fat, more whey proteins, more salt and more damaging enzymes. Such milk is not desirable for processors because it reduces the shelf life of dairy products, diminishes the quality and reduces the yield of the product, particularly cheese. Cows with mastitis, both clinical and subclinical, also produce less milk which can have a significant impact on farm profitability.