What would you do?

[JeffNY]

Well, the worse bug to hit, hit... Staph Aureus. Today we ran up samples from the rest of the group, and hopefully they come back negative. Here is the "what to do" question.


The one cow in question, that has it fairly bad in her one quarter has been treated fairly aggresively, and it didn't kill it. I have learned a great deal about the bug, and it is very hard to get rid of during lactation, but has a greater cure rate during dry off. So what should I do? Should I not bother with the hastle of trying to cure this one cow, and ship her. Or should I do the dry off method, and hope she straightens out by next lactation, next fall? She is bred, and will calve in next October.

I was talking with a farmer about it, and he told me of a story where he had to deal with the bug. He had to ship 20 of his 40 cows, because of Staph.

Now what is scary about staph, is the fact you can have a low cow, and she can still have staph, its when it begins to shed, the cells climb, etc etc. So a bit of an unnerving thought.. Not to mention, heifers can calve in with it, and they dont know how that happens. Here is my theory, they probably get it when another calf licks, or noses their udder in some way, as Staph can live in the nostrils of an animal.

So ship her? Or try the dry treatment? I dont want to spread it, and would rather get rid of the problem animals, but im always open for suggestion.


Jeff

[caseyweiss]

Jeff, one of my best older cows came done with staph a. in one quarter. We dried up the bad quarter, and used her as a nurse cow for bull calves only. In the event she has a heifer for us, we won't allow it to nurse her. I know that Today and Tomorrow claim to be successful against staph a., you might want to give that a try before you ship the cow.

Casey

[Teacupliz]

I know there is so much to learn about mastitis-- I am thinking there is no one right answer. Do you think the wood chips are a cause? Do you pre and post dip?
I had a hiefer freshen with mastitis in one quarter- I monkeyed with is for some time- then finaly broke down and had it tested. They said they could not beleive the cow was not dead. I guess she built amunity to it. they said vet and Quailty that is would not clear up but it has- and the cow is doing well. I know this is nto the same as SA-
have you tried nay organic treatments- some really work.
I wonder too if this was one of you good cows?
I am told staph A is everywhere on your farm- it is just a matter of keeping out of the udder. That is why I wondered about wood chips my vet said to NOT use them
Always learning- Liz

[ilovejerseys]

We had this exact decision to make too. We chose to dry up the one bad quarter and keep milking the 3 good ones. We dried her bad quarter with Quarter Master Dry Cow...following directions on the box. She gives great milk and we'll keep our fingers crossed she'll come back clean.

I've been given the same counsel about not letting a heifer nurse from a Staph A quarter. (We'll bottle feed the calf the colostrum from the good quarters; til we check and see if Staph A came back in the bad quarter) Of course you realize when she calves, you'll need to milk that Staph A quarter separately and LAST so as not to spread it if it came back. If it does come back you can dry that quarter again immediately.

Just some thoughts.

Kelly

[DaleK]

Originally Posted by ilovejerseys

We had this exact decision to make too. We chose to dry up the one bad quarter and keep milking the 3 good ones. We dried her bad quarter with Quarter Master Dry Cow...following directions on the box. She gives great milk and we'll keep our fingers crossed she'll come back clean.

I've been given the same counsel about not letting a heifer nurse from a Staph A quarter. (We'll bottle feed the calf the colostrum from the good quarters; til we check and see if Staph A came back in the bad quarter) Of course you realize when she calves, you'll need to milk that Staph A quarter separately and LAST so as not to spread it if it came back. If it does come back you can dry that quarter again immediately.

Just some thoughts.

Kelly

Ummm... you realize that even though you only treated one quarter, the antibiotics aren't restricted to that quarter, and the penicillin will be in the milk you're taking from the other three quarters? Right? And by milking the other three quarters you're going to greatly reduce the effectiveness of the treatment on that one quarter?

[DaleK]

Not a hard decision for me Jeff, Staph. Aureus cows here get pulled from the line immediately and go on the next trailer out.

[JeffNY]

The only real effective treatment if your going to milk 3 quarters, is to chemically kill the one quarter. It is the only way to deal with Staph that way. I asked a vet this, and he said that its not effective enough.


The problem with Staph A. is it has a low cure rate, its a bug that gets into the tissue, abcesses. The cow walls off this abcess, and its why treatment doesn't always work. The cure rate is higher with dry treating, however does not mean that you will cure the quarter.


Liz,


Is she a good cow? Well milk wise, yes. However coming up I have heifers due, two that are really good. One of my own that is looking good, along with a red advent. Now hopefully they didn't contract it as a heifer, but they are why I need to get it licked. Organic treatments can be fine and dandy, but Staph A. isn't regular ol strep ag. or other bugs that can be cured. Will they ever find an effective treatment? Maybe, maybe not. Chances are, probably not since it seems to resist antibiotics..


The biggest danger is the fact it is "stealth". If it doesn't rear its ugly head till you see SCC rise, thats the problem with the bug. When it gets irritated, it sheds. So you can easily spread it, without knowing, till its too late. So two choices for me, kill the quarter or send the cow. Killing the quarter as I said ends it for that quarter, and does kill Staph (kills the tissue). Three quarted cows do work, and as long as the other quarters are clean, then there is still some use.


Now another thing to keep in mind with Staph A. It is not enviro. I talked with our vet to get a better understanding of staph. It has to live in the tissue or on the tissue of an animal. It can live in the vagina of a cow, nostrils, etc. It passes cow to cow, not enviro to cow. Strep and other agents are enviro. in otherwords, it doesn't do well outside of the body. When it is tested in a bulk tank, it is likely present because it is refrigerated, so it goes dormant or its presence is there. Its why Staph A. isn't understood, its the whole "where did it come from?". Generally if you bring a new animal in, it can travel that way, there are some studdies that suggest it could be spread by a fly, but that seems outlandish to me.

But generally its spread cow to cow during milking, when the milker slips just a little bit, the force, forces the bacteria into the teat. Also legions,sores, etc on a teat can create an avenue for staph.


So my suggestion to anyone, as Dale said, cull the cow. Or kill the quarter that is infected. That is the only two viable options. Honestly, I think doing those will help, because this bug obviously resists treatment already.


Jeff

[Ralph in N.E.Oh]

Get rid of her.

You said yourself that you have good heifers coming along .... Culling is the hardest part of farming, but it must be done.