high scc help!

mattthetrasher

hi i,m new to boards,and i need help.scc has gone from 170 to 395 in past month,same thing happened in 2009, staph aureas was the culprit.got rid of about 15 cows since.i was probably guilty of being to soft with another 3 or 4 its a bit like mrsa in that treatment is not very successfull. did cmt test on cows this am 7 cows showed up now i,m assuming its staph again because its sub-clinical.should i spend on treatment or should i go to end game and buy in six or seven cows can get third calvers here in tipp for 1100

Martin 83

If it was me treatment would depend on age of cow. Younger cows respond better than older ones.
If you are going to buy in cows it might be better to find the source of the high scc b4 you do.

Martin.

whelan1

how do you know the cows you are buying in wont have scc problems too? better to work on what you have

mattthetrasher

well i have it narrowed down to 7 or 8 cows that are 6-10 years old the cows i looked at are milk recorded as are mine so no hiding places if i dry problem cows now in sept they should go along way to pay for clean 3rd lact.

5live

Hi matt. I had the same problem in feb. Look up 'cell count problems' a few months ago. You have to treat the quarters with high counts but more importantly, stop further infection spread to other cows. Cluster dip after each hihg cow for 30 seconds and rinse after. You should be able to get a cure rate of 50% with the high quarters but with 2 or 3 courses it may go over 70%. You will have to dry off quarters in the rest or cull them.

Its a problem but can be controlled once you know the quarters. Like Whelan1 says, there is no guarantee anything bought wont have the same problems or worse like bringing in a different kind that your own cows have no immunity to.

My scc is a decent 170 now but i am thinking of trying to go lower.
Edit Go back to page 12, last post 3/5/11

mattthetrasher

its a very headwrecking thing is scc a guy in my grup has a count of about 50 he reckons this represents ahealthy cow he says over 100 is simmering and over 200 its boiling over :eek:

5live

mattthetrasher wrote: »

its a very headwrecking thing is scc a guy in my grup has a count of about 50 he reckons this represents ahealthy cow he says over 100 is simmering and over 200 its boiling over :eek:

I have to agree with him.
Take a cow with scc of 200. Most of us would take no notice of her. But with 3 quarters at 50, the other one at 650:eek:. This one quarter can infect the next 6 to 8 cows and BOOM, PENALTY.
Not a pretty scenario.

I was talking to a guy from teagasc the other day and if i understood correctly, in australia you get paid say 15c a litre. If you pass all tests you get another 15c bonus. If you fail one, just one test ,then you get no bonus:eek:.
And there is talks about bringing down scc to 250 or 200 even because some sellers (aussie?) are able to offer product at that spec so why cant you? Put the heebie jeebies up me i can tell you

mattthetrasher

hi 5live and thanks for page 12 lots of info on there and while you wouldnt wish it on anyone its good to know you aint the only soldier!.i drafted off my suspects and will milk them after the main herd for a fortnight until i have results and make a decision.i heard same thing about dropping limits here:eek:

whelan1

glanbia are dropping the limit from 400,000 by 25000 a year for the next 4 years... my scc is around 150 was alot worse for along time , i still get the odd test over 200 , but i send samples of individual cows with the milk lorry and also milk record

mattthetrasher

does it take long for results to come back my co-op only test 3 times amonth

whelan1

mattthetrasher wrote: »

does it take long for results to come back my co-op only test 3 times amonth

a day or two , its a great help... you leave an individual sample out for the milk man to take away

snowman707

mattthetrasher wrote: »

its a very headwrecking thing is scc a guy in my grup has a count of about 50 he reckons this represents ahealthy cow he says over 100 is simmering and over 200 its boiling over :eek:

+1

i have always farmed along the the lines recently mentioned in a profile in IFJ recently

"look after the soil and the animal and they will look after you"

our tank samples are under 50K ( some cows on their 10th lactation)

whelan1

mattthetrasher wrote: »

does it take long for results to come back my co-op only test 3 times amonth

our co-op tests for scc every collection, so there are no rral surprises

John_F

mattthetrasher wrote: »

does it take long for results to come back my co-op only test 3 times amonth

what co-op is that can i ask, carbery takes a sample every collection, makes sense and fair if they want to pay on quality, was 3 times a month up to maybe a year or year and a half ago, way better now as farmer can act alot sooner making it better for the co-op too

mattthetrasher

centenary co-op

keep going

how many of you have timed how long it takes to milk your cows. not just the overall job but cups on to cups off,how much per row,there can be a big difference between first and last row. i used to go feeding a few calves during the last row which included high scc cows and didnt realise how long i was taking and only making probs worse. should be 7 min or less for most cows but high yielders need more.

jeff greene

keep going wrote: »

how many of you have timed how long it takes to milk your cows. not just the overall job but cups on to cups off,how much per row,there can be a big difference between first and last row. i used to go feeding a few calves during the last row which included high scc cows and didnt realise how long i was taking and only making probs worse. should be 7 min or less for most cows but high yielders need more.

4-7 mins, milking speed and yield aren't related, some cows can dump out 30kgs in 3-4 mins, we've culled all the really slow ones, frustrating waiting around

whelan1

keep going wrote: »

how many of you have timed how long it takes to milk your cows. not just the overall job but cups on to cups off,how much per row,there can be a big difference between first and last row. i used to go feeding a few calves during the last row which included high scc cows and didnt realise how long i was taking and only making probs worse. should be 7 min or less for most cows but high yielders need more.

good point , i have a routine, i put on the 15 units - we have acrs - then walk back up an flick the switch on any cow that is done before the acr comes on.... i nearly always have the cluster off before the acr comes on, theres no harm in having acluster lying up for a few minutes , its better than over milking the cow imo

jeff greene

Prep with a 30sec delay to attaching is the ideal for milk let down, don't have acrs but can be achieved with 2 milking and a good routine all going to plan. Prep is pre spray, strip and wipe

thats interesting

snowman707 wrote: »

+1

i have always farmed along the the lines recently mentioned in a profile in IFJ recently

"look after the soil and the animal and they will look after you"

our tank samples are under 50K ( some cows on their 10th lactation)

That sounds great. How do you get those results?

mattthetrasher

vet agrees with you martin but if i do end up culling cows do i buy in to replace

mattthetrasher

well i heeded yer advice guys.not buying any cows will work with what i have thanks for the replys:)

Martin 83

mattthetrasher wrote: »

well i heeded yer advice guys.not buying any cows will work with what i have thanks for the replys:)

Better the devil ya know!

Ya should try to milk the high scc cows last and get rid at the end of the year.

cows

Anyone use mascac 800 is a natural product that bring downs cell count?? I know a few lads that swears by the stuff..Its an injection you can give the cows when milking or just before drying off.. Any posters have any experience with it?

LostCovey

cows wrote: »

Anyone use mascac 800 is a natural product that bring downs cell count?? I know a few lads that swears by the stuff..Its an injection you can give the cows when milking or just before drying off.. Any posters have any experience with it?

Sounds like snake-oil. If there was a simple answer, everyone would be using it.

LC

5live

LostCovey wrote: »

Sounds like snake-oil. If there was a simple answer, everyone would be using it.

LC

Oh ye of little faith. Its probably homeopathic and that stuff is well proven scientifically isnt it:rolleyes:

I've never heard of the stuff myself. Any details

LostCovey

5live wrote: »

Oh ye of little faith. Its probably homeopathic and that stuff is well proven scientifically isnt it:rolleyes:

I've never heard of the stuff myself. Any details

I am going to deliberately misunderstand this & assume you want details about homeopathy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMGIbOGu8q0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHVVKAKWXcg

5live

LostCovey wrote: »

I am going to deliberately misunderstand this & assume you want details about homeopathy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMGIbOGu8q0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHVVKAKWXcg

Well as i see it if people want to throw away money on dilute water with one molecule of 'active' ingredient per planet worth of water and rely on a totally unmeasured and unknown property of memory in water, who am i to stop them.:p

But on the off chance that it was a new product backed up by something more substantial than blind faith and total dismissal of scientific fact, i just said i would enquire a bit more.

Good videos though. Thanks:)

barryoc1

I have the dreaded problem of high cell count at the moment. Took out the cows i suspected of being the problem as they were high the last time i tested the herd. Still aint going down. Filter sock is quite clean after every milking so it is subclinical.

I havent used a CMT test before but wondering are these testers good and will they show up a high cell count quarter even if the milk coming out looks perfect and quite clean?

whelan1

barryoc1 wrote: »

I have the dreaded problem of high cell count at the moment. Took out the cows i suspected of being the problem as they were high the last time i tested the herd. Still aint going down. Filter sock is quite clean after every milking so it is subclinical.

I havent used a CMT test before but wondering are these testers good and will they show up a high cell count quarter even if the milk coming out looks perfect and quite clean?

yup , they are a great job, milk that looks perfect can still be your problem... do you milk record?

barryoc1

whelan1 wrote: »

yup , they are a great job, milk that looks perfect can still be your problem... do you milk record?

No. Will it be easy to determine if the cell count is high with the test, even if it looks fine initially.

barryoc1

whelan1 wrote: »

yup , they are a great job, milk that looks perfect can still be your problem... do you milk record?

Also, where you get it? Vet? Co-op? Is it the best way to test? Dont suppose there is some electrical device that will give me a SCC reading.

whelan1

i got mine from a local co-op store , years ago... in this day and age i do not understand why every farmer doesnt milk record, we do it every 6 weeks and have been doing it for years... you get so much info for so little work, best money ever spent imo.. the milk turns gooey in the solution of the cmt when the scc is high

LostCovey

barryoc1 wrote: »

Also, where you get it? Vet? Co-op? Is it the best way to test? Dont suppose there is some electrical device that will give me a SCC reading.

The CMT is very low-tech but its simplicity is the beauty of it.

LC

LostCovey

Some great basic stuff here on high SCC

http://www.animalhealthireland.ie/scc-tipsmonth.php



LC

mattthetrasher

hi barry our scc is running at about 140 now used the cmt and milk recording to identify culprits cmt is available in co-ops very effective tool treatment is not very succesful with the best being to cull them not to bad at current cull cow prices my advice is to treat them if cows dont respond get rid i persisted for 2 years big mistake take no prisoners you are at war!

agcons

If any of you are interested we have a 15 min DVD shot on the farm of the 2009 winner of the NDC clean milk award, showing the 10 main strategies he uses to keep his scc low. Its all very practical and farmer friendly. http://www.agriconsultants.com/Index.php?Page=Dairy