Abstract
Staphylococci are the primary pathogens causing clinical and subclinical mastitis in dairy goats. This randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluates the impact of vaccination with VIMCO® (Hipra, Girona, Spain) on clinical mastitis (CM), gangrenous mastitis (GM), the occurrence of udder asymmetry, somatic cell count (SCC), total bacterial count (TBC) and 10-day average milk yield (10dMY) in primiparous goats. The RCT was performed on a commercial dairy goat farm with 3000 mainly Saanen goats from February to April 2022. A group of 350 pregnant primiparous goats (12 – 16 months of age) was randomly divided into a control group and a vaccinated group. The goats were followed from kidding until on average 72 days in milk (DIM). At on average 20 DIM, all primiparous goats were mixed into a group with 1600 non-vaccinated adult goats. At the first milking after kidding (T = 0), all primiparous goats were scored for clinical mastitis and udder asymmetry. After that, udder asymmetry was scored on T1 (on average 12 DIM) and T2 (on average 62 DIM). Gangrenous mastitis cases were recorded from the start of complete vaccination and during the entire trial period. In addition, individual daily milk yield was recorded automatically by the milking system, and somatic cell count (SCC) was determined once at T2. The prevalence of CM was significantly higher in the control group (5.6%) than in the vaccinated group (0.6%). There was a significantly higher prevalence of udder asymmetry in the control group (7.8%) compared to the vaccinated group (1.2%) at T0 and during the entire study period (16% in control group versus 7.6% in the vaccinated group). Dried-up udder halves and GM were rare and did not differ significantly between both groups. Also, the SCC measurement and the milk yield did not differ between the vaccinated and the control group. Altogether, we show that the VIMCO® vaccine prevents clinical signs of mastitis at the first milking after kidding and udder asymmetry during the first three months after kidding in primiparous goats. Therefore, the vaccine may contribute to udder health control. Effects on SCC, milk yield, the prevalence of dried-up udder glands and GM remain to be demonstrated.
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