Mastitis epidemiology in the post-partum period and its impact on the lactation of dairy cows

Abstract

Mastitis is the most prevalent disease of dairy cows. Economic losses involve reduction in milk production, drugs, discarded milk, veterinary care, labor and quality penalties. The occurrence of mastitis in the immediate postpartum period and its impact on milk production is still little studied in Brazil, in a tropical climate. Thus, the objectives of this project are: 1) to describe the distribution of pathogens isolated in the immediate postpartum period; 2) to evaluate the impact of postpartum mastitis on the remaining lactation. Six dairy herds will be used. Milk samples will be collected aseptically on the first postpartum day and all cases of clinical mastitis occurring during lactation. Health and production data required for the analysis will be collected directly from the management software of the participating properties: monthly milk production, somatic cell count, calving date, health events such as mastitis and other diseases, culling and date of dry-off. For objective 1, the frequency distribution of the pathogens isolated from the milk samples at calving will be produced. For objective 2, repeated measures models will be used to compare the average milk yield (lactation curves and total lactation production) between mastitis and healthy animals in the postpartum period. Results of this research may be applied on farms for prevention and rational management of bovine mastitis.