scc

whelan1

had scc problems a few years ago, got the acr's serviced and at the highest had been 250,000 all last year, then over christmas i only milked the stale group of cows once a day, still milked fresh group -75 cows - twice a day. Scc went up to over 400,000:eek: , milk recorded on friday 6th january and got 3 really high cows, that didnot have any signs of mastitis... scc went up to 530,000 while i was waiting on milk recording results... sent a few samples with milkman on friday and got results today, todays result( which was saturdays collection) was 360,000... think lesson learned dont milk cows once a day... cubicle beds are really clean, so am only putting it down to oad

bbam

It's a known problem with OAD milking...
Modern bred dairy cows just don't seem to be compatible with it..

I wonder would Jersey herds get away with it, I've never come across any herds trying it... There may well be breeds where it would be suitable but I'd reckon overall yield would be lower anyway..

whelan1

got the recorder to come back this morning to just do scc, will have results by the end of the week, even though its only 10 days since we recorder before

dar31

when we went on to oad back in the autum scc jumped by 100k - 150k,
managed to keep it under 300k most of the time, with and odd high one every now and again. stale cows stayed on oad and fresh cows tad as they calved in. left stale cows on oad till fulltime housing when it got to much effort to control. put back on tad then.

because we were on oad we had time to put a bit more effort into milk routine and hygiene

6480

i had a problem with a switch on the motor of the milking machine machine and it didnt help scc , i also moved the mains fencer over to the garage at the back of dwelling house which is 150 meters away from yard

bbam

6480 wrote: »

i had a problem with a switch on the motor of the milking machine machine and it didnt help scc , i also moved the mains fencer over to the garage at the back of dwelling house which is 150 meters away from yard

Indeed...
Also milk pumps, milk tanks (compressors and agitators), washdown pumps are all potential sources of problems...

whelan1

still having problems:rolleyes: now have milking machine guy coming tomorrow, did cows again this morning for scc only... now heres the bit that may be causing it , only dawned on me this morning, we had problems with the machine on xmas day, electrician by passed the overload switch, have asked him 4 times to come back an fix it, could this be our problem, seems a fair coincidence that my problems started at the same time... rang him earlier and told him i want it fixed by this evening

sh1tstirrer

whelan1 wrote: »

still having problems:rolleyes: now have milking machine guy coming tomorrow, did cows again this morning for scc only... now heres the bit that may be causing it , only dawned on me this morning, we had problems with the machine on xmas day, electrician by passed the overload switch, have asked him 4 times to come back an fix it, could this be our problem, seems a fair coincidence that my problems started at the same time... rang him earlier and told him i want it fixed by this evening

Do you teat dip the cows before milking? I had a problem with cell counts when I was milking I checked out everything stray electricity, milking high cell count cows last etc. I tested the samples from high cows and the results showed that it was contagious mastitis. The only way to prevent it spreading is to pre dip.

milkprofit

Whelan once a day was not the problem unless u had cows tht wer high already

whelan1

had been using prosanex on the mats with sawdust at xmas , i started using it half and half with lime, as timac agro sales rep said this was ok, prosanex is over 40 euro a bag, he called today and said you should never mix the 2 as one is acid and the other is a base and they will cancel each other out:eek: so using straight prosanex or antibac now ... electrician arrived when iwas milking this evening , so couldnt fix the overload on themilking maching , said he would be back in half an hour, that was over an hour ago:rolleyes:

whelan1

had milking machine man out there, tested machine , alls fine... still waiting on electrician to come back:rolleyes: and dairies are coming out to watch me milk this evening:cool:

6480

whelan1 wrote: »

had milking machine man out there, tested machine , alls fine... still waiting on electrician to come back:rolleyes: and dairies are coming out to watch me milk this evening:cool:

i had a problem with the switch of the machine and of course bypassed it and a few months later i found the problem , i use a teat dip that has a minty smell from it , it contains chinese mint oils it fairly keeps the ssc down , i hope u can get the electrician out soon

whelan1

lad from dairies came out, said you cant do a sensitivity test if a cow has been treated in the last month, as the high cell count ones are all recurring ones they have all been treated... he is coming back tomorrow evening , as he didnt have his methylated spirits etc for doing the tests:rolleyes: said the place was spotless:D sheds are clean and there is no damage to any of the cows spins, getting pissed off with scc at this stage, still no fooking sign of electrician:cool:

Sam Kade

whelan1 wrote: »

had milking machine man out there, tested machine , alls fine... still waiting on electrician to come back:rolleyes: and dairies are coming out to watch me milk this evening:cool:

Do the Co-op come out to check you milking because of the high cell counts? Nearly all the milk advisers in my Co-op wouldn't know a cows head from her arse never mind advising farmers on how to get their cell counts down.

whelan1

yup , fella came out tuesday evening to have a look, then he came back yesterday evening and stayed for the whole milking. did a few cmt tests on a few cows, checked teats, only faults was that i dont wear milking gloves and when i am teat spraying i dont take my time:rolleyes: But as he said these didnt cause my scc problem... electrician came last night to fix that problem but theres no stray voltage around...

dar31

Do you clean out water throughs in shed often, what is water quality like

whelan1

water troughs are cleaned out regular, my dad drummed that in to me... only finished milking now as the electrician set the overload too low on the new switch he put in last night, machine would only run for 5 minutes and then stop rang him at 6.40 and he didnt get here til 7.50:mad:

6480

only option is to test every cow and treat high ones

bbam

whelan1 wrote: »

water troughs are cleaned out regular, my dad drummed that in to me... only finished milking now as the electrician set the overload too low on the new switch he put in last night, machine would only run for 5 minutes and then stop rang him at 6.40 and he didnt get here til 7.50:mad:

Jebus he should move in on site... It's not rocket science !!

whelan1

6480 wrote: »

only option is to test every cow and treat high ones

have done that 3 times since start of january... have sold high scc cows , changed mastitis tubes, got sensitivity tests done, got machine tested, had dairies out , had electrician out

funny man

whelan1 wrote: »

have done that 3 times since start of january... have sold high scc cows , changed mastitis tubes, got sensitivity tests done, got machine tested, had dairies out , had electrician out

not trying to sound smart but what have you done with the herd after you get your milk recording report.

deerejohn

On a related topic what teat dip/sprays are people using, we changed in september to nanodual? and our scc has certainly dropped with fewer mastitis cases. Now its just the usual suspects and with the price of culls these are fewer in number by the day!

whelan1

scc has been fine all year till st stephens day, so milk recorded on 6 january, took 7 days to get results, took out 5 highest cows, brought 3 of them to mart and dried off 2 others, did herd again for scc on 16 january- now here is the joke took a full week to get the results:eek: took out the 4 highest , treated 2 and dried off 2... did whole herd scc last monday again... any cows i have treated i have sent a sample of their milk with milkman to recheck scc ... from looking at the report there are alot of cows with extremely low scc below 75... one each test there where 4 or 5 above 1 million , these are the ones i have taken out... going to ring pg in the morning to see if they have the results from last mondays test... have already gotten a few results this week from samples sent with lorry driver

fatoftheland

whelan1 wrote: »

have done that 3 times since start of january... have sold high scc cows , changed mastitis tubes, got sensitivity tests done, got machine tested, had dairies out , had electrician out

sometimes its a selinium problems in cows. easy way to find out give ones with high scc an injection and check levels in dairy nut. selinium boosts immune system to get cow to fight infections

funny man

Has all this just started after the electrical problem?

whelan1

yes that is the coincidence of it all, its all i can narrow it down to, but theres no stray voltage, had stray voltage a few years ago so know what its like... milking machine man, dairies and electrician tested for stray voltage, checked cubicle sheds too... just hanging on for every test result to see if it has come down,,, dairies are baffled:cool: the parlour is fully bonded..

6480

have you many freshy calved cows ?, this would be driving me up the walls at this stage . is your milking machine man sure about the timing of the pulsation , i would get it checked again and maybe by another milking machine man he might have another idea

funny man

Having read all your posts on scc, taken that the machine has been properly tested and that the stray voltage has been ruled out i believe the problem has to lie with your cows, on the cows that are running high did it start with the stale cows?. if you haven't done so already i'd group all the high scc cows together and milk them last or if thats not feasiable mark them and cluster dip with hydrogen peroxide/peracetic acid disinfectant after milking them, this usually stops the spread and in most cases CMT will show you the infected quarter, sensitivity and treatment. If your signed up to herd plus the milk quality report under milk recording is a very good starting place to identify where the problem stems from.

oooge1

[ is your milking machine man sure about the timing of the pulsation , i would get it checked again and maybe by another milking machine man he might have another idea[/QUOTE]

yeah this might be a good thing to check out.. neighbour of mine was going through the same hardship as yourself with scc and after trying everything it turned out to be a problem with the pulsation.worth a look.

whelan1

6480 wrote: »

have you many freshy calved cows ?, this would be driving me up the walls at this stage . is your milking machine man sure about the timing of the pulsation , i would get it checked again and maybe by another milking machine man he might have another idea

dairies man and the milking machine man tested machine, both said everything was fine

whelan1

have the cows in 2 groups, when i initially started getting problems i assumed it was the stale group , that i was milking once a day over christmas, only 1 of these has a high cell count , so that rules that out... am left at the minute with 3 cows i am treating , using different tubes than i had been and they are also getting injection of antibiotics, used cmt to sort out which spins they have it in... didnt get a scc result for tuesdays collection, milk must have gone for thermoduric testing so should get a result this evening for thursdays collection. Also will ring pg today for whole herd result from monday...

lefthooker

whelan1 wrote: »

yup , fella came out tuesday evening to have a look, then he came back yesterday evening and stayed for the whole milking,.................................. only faults was that i dont wear milking gloves and when i am teat spraying i dont take my time

Out of interest how many people wear gloves when milking? I tried milking with gloves once, I might as well have been wearing oven gloves. Couldn't get used to them at all, didn't have the same touch or feel for what I was doing

5live

lefthooker wrote: »

Out of interest how many people wear gloves when milking? I tried milking with gloves once, I might as well have been wearing oven gloves.oin Couldn't get used to them at all, didn't have the same touch or feel for what I was dg

I was the same lasy year but had a high scc problem and started wearing gloves and prefer them on now. You may have to try a few different packs to get ones you are comfortable with. I eventually settled on black nitrile ones, slightly larger than the blue ones so easier fit. The scc went down too but that had little to do with the gloves though

bbam

Theres little left mechanically but here are a few thoughts:
Feeders and stalls, are these bonded to the plant? If you have a steel auger that comes on during milking I'd be bonding that too.

Collecting yard, I've heard of gates being a problem if there is a fencer near by

I presume your fencer unit is far away and earths are far far from the parlour and collecting yard.

If the machine is operating correctly there may be something to help,
Lower vacuum level to 48kpa it is probably set to 50. You won't see a difference but it's easier on cows.
As is 60:40 pulsation but this will slow milking slightly and not all systems have the option to change.
Correct use of jars. Older alfa plants were not designed to milk through the jars although it would work. They need to collect and release, otherwise unstable vacuum at claw can cause milk blow back to the teat.
Check water troughs for stray voltage again this could be in the sheds near a fencer.
It can be a real killer to find the problem.

Farfield

I'm fairly new to this all, but How does stray voltage increase mastitis? I know it will spook the hell out of the cows alright, cant get the other bit?

whelan1

bbam wrote: »

Theres little left mechanically but here are a few thoughts:
Feeders and stalls, are these bonded to the plant? If you have a steel auger that comes on during milking I'd be bonding that too.

Collecting yard, I've heard of gates being a problem if there is a fencer near by

I presume your fencer unit is far away and earths are far far from the parlour and collecting yard.

If the machine is operating correctly there may be something to help,
Lower vacuum level to 48kpa it is probably set to 50. You won't see a difference but it's easier on cows.
As is 60:40 pulsation but this will slow milking slightly and not all systems have the option to change.
Correct use of jars. Older alfa plants were not designed to milk through the jars although it would work. They need to collect and release, otherwise unstable vacuum at claw can cause milk blow back to the teat.
Check water troughs for stray voltage again this could be in the sheds near a fencer.
It can be a real killer to find the problem.

diaries man reduced vacuum to 48 , was at 50, checked for stray voltage in dairy, milking machine shed- fencer is in there- and parlour and cubicle shed.. feeders in parlour are all earthed also, thanks for your help... feel like screaming everytime i get a text with a high scc, alsdo feel like replying and telling them to fook off and leave me alone:mad:

19driver83

I havent read this entire thread so apologies if im asking a Q that has already been asked!

How do you clean the teats before milking?

whelan1

dry wipe

19driver83

whelan1 wrote: »

dry wipe

OK. We had problems for years with SCC, tried everything.

Last year was the first year that it was'nt an issue. SCC was consistently around 100-200K.

We started dry wiping the teats. Spray initially with some blue spray (cant remember name!!) than just wipe with a cloth. Maybe it was just a coincidence!

bbam

Farfield wrote: »

I'm fairly new to this all, but How does stray voltage increase mastitis? I know it will spook the hell out of the cows alright, cant get the other bit?

Stress.
There doesn't need to be enough voltage to make them spook to have a knock on effect on scc.


Wheelan I'd be moving the fencer unit or at least ensuring it's off during milking.
Maybe the electrician could wire the machine contactir to kill the power to the fence once the machine is switched on. It can be done.
Simple test.
Wet both hands and put one on the top of the earth bar of the fence and the other on damp ground, if you feel a shock then the earth is incapable of absorbing all the power being generated and god knows where it is going to. Voltage at that level is very unpredictable.

whelan1

fencer is plugged out, we wet our wrist and then put it on the bar, thanks for all the help , its very annoying not to know whats wrong, had stray voltage going through a few years ago, cows went mad , also didnt help that they stand on a steel grid when milking, none of that now, if there was stray voltage they would be ****ting alot and be very fidgety, they are grand and quiet and only the usual amount of crap coming out of them:rolleyes: they also used the tester thingy to check for the stray voltage

whelan1

jeez, i am getting excited here lads, didnt get a bad quality text today YET.... constituent results are on line, protein has gone up- had gone down with the scc rising.... have a glass of wine here, hope i am not being premature. Every text message i got this evening i was sure it was the dairies, so fingers crossed

whelan1

scc was 410 for thursdays collection,now in that collection there was a heifer with mastitis , hopeful that this mornings collection will see me right, previous test was 539,000:eek: got results from whole herd scc test done on monday 4 high cows , all their milk is out of tank anyway at the minute, no surprises... added up all the scc's on the list and divided by the amount of cows this gave me anaverage scc of 405,000 when i took the 4 highest off it gave me a scc of 225,000... these 4 are out of the tank anyway so fingers crossed

whelan1

314 for 4th feb collection, first test under 400 since st stephens day:D

snowman707

whelan1 wrote: »

fencer is plugged out, we wet our wrist and then put it on the bar,

and you are wearing wellies which insulates you from the earth

whelan1

the dairies man and the electrician checked for stray voltage with their little machine thingy..

6480

whelan1 wrote: »

314 for 4th feb collection, first test under 400 since st stephens day:D

hope fully u are at the end of this

Lizard_Moon

Whelan1
Glad your cell counts going the right direction.
Did you send any milk samples for culture and sensitivity- bulk milk and untreated high SCC cows? Knowing what bugs- environmental or contagious- can help your control plans

Fingers crossed it keeps getting better!

LM

whelan1

yup we sent sensitivity tests off, hope to get results today

Lizard_Moon

whelan1 wrote: »

yup we sent sensitivity tests off, hope to get results today

That's great! Just make sure you find out what the bacteria cultured are and that they have typed any Strep species found.
Sensitivity only tells you what antibiotics will inhibit the bacteria in the milk from growing in the lab but knowing what bacteria present will help you come up with a control and prevention plan. i.e. do you have environmental or contagious bacteri (or Strep Uberis that has properties of both)

LM

whelan1

246 for 6th february:)