Costs of clinical mastitis and mastitis prevention in dairy herds

Abstract

Summary: A stratified random sample of 50 Ohio dairy herds, monitored for 1 year between March 1988 and May 1989, was used to estimate the component costs of clinical mastitis per cow-year overall and by organism, the component costs of an episode of clinical mastitis overall and by organism, and the incidence of clinical mastitis by organism. Each herd was visited monthly by a veterinarian who conducted on-farm interviews and completed standardized data-collection forms designed to elicit economic information about the on-farm costs of clinical mastitis and mastitis prevention. Producers collected milk samples prior to treatment of clinical mastitis cases. Culturing methods allowed identification of 18 specific mastitis pathogen classifications. Annual costs estimated were on a per cow-year and clinical episode basis. The monthly mean population of cows monitored was 4,068. Mastitis prevention cost $14.50/cow-year, whereas the cost incurred by producers because of clinical cases of mastitis was $37.91. Organisms prevalent in the cows’ environment caused the most costly types of mastitis. Disregarding contaminated samples and episodes for which no milk samples were taken, mastitis for which 2 organisms were isolated accounted for 35.5% of costs of clinical mastitis, followed by cases for which Escherichia coli (21.3%) was isolated, cases for which culturing yielded no growth (8.6%), and cases for which esculin-positive Streptococcus spp (6.4%), Klebsiella spp (5.7%), esculin-negative CAMP-negative Streptococcus spp (5.1%), Enterobacter spp (4.8%), coagulase-negative Staphylococcus spp (4.1%), coagulase-positive Staphylococcus spp (3.0%), S agalactiae (2.5%), and Bacillus spp (1.2%) were isolated. Other categories of classification each accounted for < 0.5% of costs. Mean cost per clinical episode was $107.11. Mean incidence of clinical mastitis was 38.74 cases/100 cowyears. Mixed infections had the highest incidence (mean, 4.80 cases/100 cow-years), followed by cases with no growth (2.96), E coli (2.10), esculin-positive Streptococcus spp (1.94), coagulase-negative Staphylococcus spp (1.60), esculin-negative CAMP-negative Streptococcus spp (1.25), coagulase-positive Staphylococcus spp (1.04), Enterobacter spp (0.36), and Klebsiella spp (0.27).