Disease and Infections
Johne's Disease
Estimated 17% of UK herds affected with Johne's, with over 50% in Holland and possibly between 50-95% in Denmark. Makes you think about importing cattle from Europe.
Can be spread through the herd via the following:-
1. Pre-natal, a clinically ill cow has more than a 50% chance of passing it to her calf
2. At calving; an infected cow should be isolated and the calving pen disinfected. The calf is at risk here too
3. Feeding milk from an infected cow to other calves
4. Through slurry and FYM. The disease can live on the land up to 12 months.
5. Buying in a bull with the disease, which is a risk for other diseases too. By right bulls should be well tested and that goes for fertility as well.
All in all a nasty disease, and if you have it your best approach is zero tolerance, because of the risk of infecting healthy stock. Milk tests can be carried out by milk recorders now, but many cows don't show any symptons for 2-3 lactations, making farmers reluctant to cull healthy-looking cows.
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Mastitis and SCC are mentioned on this website. For many the big issue with these are the sub-clinical cows which you don't see and can be infecting other cows. This is where cluster flush has been such a success on many farms. It combats contagious SCC particularly well. What we've been hearing on-farm would lead us to recommend the cluster flush without the teat spray, though. However there are more basic pointers.
1, Teat spraying thoroughly. The most important prevention, and quite often done in a rush as the cows run out of the parlour. Check recommended levels of useage and compare that with what you are using.
2. Gloves, wipes etc. It's a good idea to change gloves after handling an infected cow, and disinfect the area where she has been standing. Those who haven't cluster flush can dip her cluster in a bucket of peracetic acid.
These are only a couple of simple things in the parlour