Effect of selective dry cow treatment on udder health and antimicrobial usage on Dutch dairy farms

Abstract

Since 2013, selective dry cow treatment (SDCT) has been the standard approach in the Netherlands where farmers select cows for the use of antimicrobials at drying-off. Shortly after its introduction, antimicrobial usage decreased significantly, and no significant association was found between the level of SDCT and clinical mastitis (CM). Obviously, at that time long-term associations could not be evaluated. This study aimed to provide insight into the methods and level of implementation of SDCT on Dutch dairy farms with a conventional milking system (CMS) or an automatic milking system (AMS) in 2016 and 2017, several years after the implementation of SDCT. Udder health and antimicrobial use were also assessed. For this study, 262 farmers recorded dry cow treatments as well as all CM cases in the period from May 1, 2016, until April 30, 2017. Additionally, somatic cell count (SCC) data on cow and herd level, treatment data on herd level and questionnaire results on udder health management were collected. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics with differences between milking systems being evaluated using nonparametric univariable statistics. In the study period, SDCT was applied on almost all (98.8%) of the participating dairy farms. The main reason for applying antimicrobials at drying-off was either the SCC history during the complete previous lactation or the SCC at the last milk recording before drying-off. The median percentage of cows treated with antimicrobials was 48.5%. The average incidence rate of CM was 27.3 cases per 100 cows per year. From all CM cases that were registered per herd, on average 32.8% were scored as mild, 42.2% as moderate, and 25.0% as severe CM. The mean bulk tank SCC of the herds was 168,989 cells/mL. A cow was considered to have subclinical mastitis (SCM) if individual SCC was ≥150,000 cells/mL for primiparous and ≥250,000 cells/mL for multiparous cows. Passing these threshold values after 2 earlier low SCC values was considered a new case of SCM. The mean incidence rate of SCM in these herds was 62.5 cases per 100 cows per year. Bulk tank SCC and the incidence rate of SCM on farms with a CMS were statistically lower than on farms with an AMS, whereas the incidence rate of CM did not significantly differ between both groups of farms. The AMS farms had more cows per herd treated with antimicrobials at drying-off and a larger proportion of severe CM cases than did CMS farms. It is unknown whether the differences are due to the milking system or to other differences between both types of farms. This study showed the level of adoption of SDCT, udder health, and antimicrobial usage parameters several years after the ban on the preventive use of antimicrobials in animal husbandry. It found that udder health parameters did not differ from those found in Dutch studies before and around the time of implementing SDCT, whereas SDCT was widely applied on Dutch dairy farms during the study period. Therefore, it was concluded that Dutch dairy farmers were able to handle the changed policy of antimicrobial use at drying-off while maintaining indicators of a good udder health.

Keywords: antimicrobials; automatic milking system; dairy; selective dry cow treatment; udder health.