Due to mastitis (inflammation of the mammary glands), farmers suffer the largest losses in milk yield. A cow for a long time leaves the list of milkers, and the restoration of its milk production takes time and costs for medicines. Even after the treatment, the milk is still not suitable for sale for some time - it contains antibiotics.
Causes of mastitis
In most cases, mastitis occurs due to the fault of the herder - somewhere a mistake was made, for which the animal has to pay. Inflammation, most often, occurs against a background of a drop in immunity. The cow is especially weak after calving, and any triggering factor can become fatal.
In 85% of cases, mastitis occurs due to the penetration of pathogenic bacteria - streptococci, staphylococci, Escherichia coli, etc., through wounds, papillae and other organs.
Consider the causes of mastitis below.
1. Violation of the conditions of detention:
- low temperatures - inflammation may begin due to hypothermia;
- microclimate mismatch with sanitary parameters;
- damp and cold in the stable, unsanitary conditions.
2. Violation of the technique and rules of milking:
- failure to comply with hygiene requirements when preparing the udder for milking;
- the cow isn’t undressed;
- the mammary glands are not completely emptied - pathogenic bacteria multiply in the residual milk, which presses on the parenchyma of the mammary gland;
To get mastitis is more promising in an animal receiving poor nutrition, leading to a weakening of immunity.
3. Complications after childbirth:
- the last was late;
- endometritis.
4. The presence of injuries, cracks in the nipples or insect bites.
5. Injury to cows due to conflicts - if the animals walk without a leash.
6. Complications after treatment - usually they are caused by tetracycline antibiotics.
Symptoms of mastitis
Mastitis has many forms and manifestations - the course of the disease can be different. But with any type of disease, there are the same symptoms:
- The animal is oppressed.
- Lost appetite.
- Edema on the udder. He has a fever. The udder increases in size - all or only some shares. On palpation - soreness.
- The temperature of the whole body may rise.
- Milk has a changed consistency. In taste and color, it differs from the usual - it often contains blood or pus.
- If you feel the udder, you can determine the presence of nodes and seals.
There are forms of mastitis in which the color of the mammary glands changes in the animal - they become spotty.
Attentive herders can identify the problem in the early stages, without waiting for the udder to swell and the temperature rise. The risk of the disease increases after calving and 1-2 months of pregnancy. About mastitis can signal the following symptoms:
- The nipple reddened. At the beginning of the donation in the milk species traces of cereal or curdled balls.
- Over time, if the disease is not treated, a secretion of viscous secretion is observed from the glands.
Kinds
In order for the treatment to be successful, it is important not only to identify mastitis on time, but also to correctly determine its type. This can be done based on the symptoms and test results.
Clinical
In the clinical form of mastitis, the udder hardens and swells, at the site of the lesion it becomes hot. Symptoms depend on the severity of the disease:
- with a mild form - there are flakes and lumps in the milk;
- with a moderate form - the udder swells, hardens, turns red and becomes painful;
- in severe form - intoxication, the condition of the animal is critical.
Subclinical
This form of the disease is dangerous by a latent course. She does not pass asymptomatically for a long time. It can be determined by laboratory research - by counting somatic cells and microflora analysis. If subclinical mastitis is not detected in time, it will go into clinical form.
Chronic
As with subclinical mastitis, the form of the disease is hidden. You can not suspect for a long time that the burenka is sick. The bacteria that cause the disease are in the tissues. The chronic form occurs if the cow’s body overcomes short-term inflammation and an imaginary recovery occurs. To diagnose chronic mastitis, use:
- visual assessment of milk - it is watery, with fragments of cereal;
- tests
- sedimentation method.
If the animal does not receive adequate treatment, the disease will periodically worsen.
Catarrhal
It occurs, usually due to improper milking. Most often, only one fraction of the udder is affected. Infection, penetrating the tissues, affects the milk ducts and mucous membranes. The pathway of bacteria penetration is the nipple. External symptoms:
- small nodules near the nipple - they appear on the 5th day of illness;
- in the early days, the animal feels normal, then a high temperature appears;
- the cow eats poorly, weakens;
- milk becomes non-greasy, it contains cereal.
Purulent
Symptoms of a purulent form:
- Hardening appears on the udder of the animal.
- The temperature at the seal point rises.
- Body temperature is very high - 40-41 degrees.
- Milk contains pus.
Abscess on the udder of a cow
With an abscess and phlegmon, the prognosis is poor - the animal will not be able to recover.
With purulent inflammation of the udder, the following can also occur:
- Abscess. Abscesses appear on the mammary gland, growing and merging with each other. The cow has a high fever. The disease leads to destructive changes - part of the gland does not function. With reduced immunity, metastases begin.
- Phlegmon. With this purulent form, a pus of pus appears. Milk, expressed from a sick share, is gray, it contains many clots.
Purulent catarrhal
If pus accumulates in the alveoli and milk ducts, purulent mastitis passes into purulent-catarrhal. It occurs as a result of the activity of pyogenic bacteria. The cause of the disease:
- poor conditions of detention;
- problems in the reproductive system.
After 3-4 days from the onset of the disease, the visible symptoms of the disease disappear. This form of mastitis either passes or passes into the chronic stage.
Serous and acute serous
Appears after calving. Inflamed only part of the udder. Symptoms
- swelling and redness of the udder;
- compaction and fever of the inflamed area;
- liquid milk, with cereal, looks more like water.
With a serous form of the disease, milk becomes bluish.
Fibrous
This form occurs, most often, as a result of catarrhal mastitis. Symptoms
- hemorrhages are visible in the affected tissues;
- discharge of pus.
Fibrous mastitis often ends with gangrene or metastases in other organs. The forecasts are unfavorable.
With the fibrous form, fibrin protein enters the tissues, accumulates in them, this causes a violation of blood circulation and even necrosis.
Hemorrhagic
Accompanied by thinning of the walls of the vessels of the breast. Blood seeping into the tissues and milk ducts clogs them. Characteristic symptoms:
- milk has a reddish or pinkish tint;
- on the skin of the udder - spots of a crimson color.
Gangrenous
This is the worst case of mastitis. His development is preceded by a violation of blood circulation. Symptoms
- the tissues of the affected lobes become dead, blue-black;
- fetid liquid is released from the udder - brown or green, with protein flakes.
The most unfavorable prognosis. The animal may die if the infection spreads to other vital organs.
Diagnostics
The success of treating a cow depends on the timely diagnosis of mastitis. There are three forms of the disease:
- spicy;
- hidden;
- chronic
In 90% of cases, chronic mastitis is diagnosed in cows. It can be determined by the quality of milk - it is watery, non-greasy and heterogeneous.
Diagnosis of mastitis is done by veterinarians. Based on clinical data, the specialist determines what kind of disease the animal has. The task of the farmer in time to check the condition of the udder, to check for mastitis, and if it is detected or suspected of being present, contact the veterinarian. There are many methods for detecting mastitis - testing, various laboratory tests. Diagnostic procedure:
- Visual inspection of the cow and udder.
- Determining the onset of the disease - when the symptoms appeared.
- Determining the cause - what triggered the disease.
- Sampling and analysis.
To understand the picture of the disease, the veterinarian finds out the conditions of the animal, its diet and method of milking, the disease. Before prescribing treatment, the following procedures are performed:
- Milk stands out - you need to carefully examine the secret of the udder.
- Temperature, pulse, respiration rate are measured.
- Lymph nodes in the udder area are examined.
- A comparison of the temperature, size and density of different fractions is performed.
- The determination of the color of the udder, verification of the integrity of the skin.
- Feeling the nipples on the presence of seals is done - along the entire length, from the base to the very bottom.
Mastitis tests
The herder's task is to conduct mastitis tests during periods of increased risk:
- the beginning of lactation;
- every month after the start of lactation;
- after launch;
- 2 weeks before calving.
If the cow is not examined and treated in time, the previous level of lactation can no longer be restored. In difficult cases, the animal dies - due to atrophy and gangrene of the mammary gland. Latent mastitis does not have pronounced symptoms, so special tests are used for its timely diagnosis.
Mastidine Solution Testing
Mastidine allows you to determine the number of leukocytes and the pH level.
- Drain the first three trickles of milk from each lobe of the udder.
- Collect in separate containers 1 ml of milk from each share. Dripping into it 1 ml of a 10% solution of mastidine.
- Milk with Mastidine is thoroughly mixed with a stick of wood or glass for 20 seconds.
- If the product has acquired a jelly-like consistency, then the cow has inflammation of the udder.
Testing takes 15 minutes. Disadvantages of testing with mastidine:
- The drug is expensive.
- After opening the bottle, it should be used quickly - it has a short shelf life.
Rapid testing of udder shares
To examine cows for subclinical mastitis, special control plates are used - they have four recesses with annular grooves. They drip milk to check. For testing, you can use:
- 5% solution of dimastine;
- or 2% mastidine solution.
The color of the hemispherical dimples is black and white. The coloring is selected so that it is convenient to diagnose mastitis:
- on a white background, pus and blood are clearly visible;
- on black are casein clumps and white flakes.
The location of the holes is thought out so that they can be easily numbered in accordance with the shares of the udder.
Sedimentation test
You can diagnose mastitis using a sedimentation test. True, it is not considered reliably accurate, therefore, it is used as an additional study. Test Order:
- After milking, 10 ml of milk is removed from the nipples. From each nipple, milk is placed in a separate container.
- Milk taken for the test, put in the refrigerator for 17 hours - you need a temperature of 10 ° C.
- At the end of the period, look at milk under lighting. Pay attention to the color, sediment and width of the creamy layer. The result is defined as follows:
- Healthy cows have white milk. There are no impurities.
- The patient has watery milk. Sediment - from 1 mm.
- If the thickness of the cream is less than 5 mm, the cow has inflammation; if it is more than 1.5 cm, the animal is healthy.
Since the technique is unreliable, the above-described testing is carried out after it. No more than seven days should elapse between inspections.
Bromothymol sample
Veterinary medicine uses many diagnostic methods. If one test does not show the problem, you need to duplicate it with another test. There is, for example, a test of Bromtimol:
- Take a 0.5% solution of bromothymol.
- Distilled water or wine alcohol is poured into the indicator.
- Two drops of the resulting mixture are introduced into 1 ml of milk.
- Observe the color - according to the shade, they conclude the presence of mastitis:
- a healthy cow will have a greenish or yellowish color;
- in cows with latent inflammation - bright green, yellow or blue.
Mastiton Testing
Milk of sick cows is different in the ratio of salts - you can identify the disease by measuring electrical conductivity. Such devices are usually used when examining a large number of cows. Among such devices is Mastiton. The range of indications is from 0 to 1999. Results of indications and diagnosis:
- Less than 450 - good milk and a healthy cow. The animal is not suffering from mastitis with a probability of 99.9%.
- 450-600 - the occurrence of mastitis is possible.
- More than 600 - the clinical stage is developing.
Measurements must be carried out repeatedly, preferably daily. If the device shows more than 600 units, you need to conduct an additional test - for example, using Mastidine.
The disadvantage of the Mastiton device is a large error, it is more than 30%!
Diagnostic Tips Using Mastiton:
- Test milk from all parts. This is especially true for cows aged who have had other illnesses. If, for example, in 3 parts the indicator of the device shows 450, and in one - 600, the risk of developing the disease is extremely high.
- The risk group includes cows with breast inflammation. Their indicator is above 500. But such a result is the consequences of an illness.
- If the device shows more than 500 in a large herd, you need to check the milking machines - perhaps the milking technique is broken.
Instructions for use of the device for indicating mastitis Mastiton can be downloaded here.
Mastitis treatment
A cow diagnosed with mastitis should be separated from the herd. If the herd is on a walk, then the sick animal is not allowed to pasture - they are left in the stable. What you need to do first:
- To give Burenka less juicy and roughage and less drinking - to reduce the production of milk.
- Twice a day, change the straw litter - this will prevent the spread of microbes.
- Express milk 6 times a day, at least 4 times. Inexperienced pastoralists think that if the cow has an udder, they don’t need to milk it. However, milking contributes to the release of microorganisms - along with milk in milk. Milking helps relieve puffiness.
- Procedures are performed only with disposable tools - to prevent re-infection.
Drug treatment
Medication requires financial costs, but in many cases, this is the only way to help the animal. When mastitis is usually used:
- The hormonal drug is oxytocin. To speed recovery. The use of this drug is dangerous for pregnant cows - it can provoke calving ahead of schedule. The medicine is administered subcutaneously - 5 units per 100 kg of mass. Before injecting the hormone, milk is dispensed, and then oxytocin is injected into the jugular vein.
- Antibiotics. Before injecting antibiotics, it is important to recognize the type of infection that caused inflammation - this is done by examining the microflora in the laboratory. Only specialists can choose the right medication, but the owner himself can administer them to the animal. Methods of administering antibiotics:
- Intramuscular injection At the beginning of general intoxication, potent drugs - "Bitsilin-5" or "Nitox" are used.
- Penersin, Masticide, Mastisan are introduced through the catheter. Drugs should be administered for 3-4 days.
- Intramar injection - the substance is injected directly into the udder. The medicine is sold in syringes - Mastisan or Hamaret.Before the injection, the udder is completely free of milk.
- The drug is administered with novocaine blockade, placed above the udder. This method requires special skills.
After using antibiotics, milk is inedible for another 5 days after the end of treatment.
With mastitis, antibiotics can also be prescribed - after the detection of a pathogenic bacterium:
- Benstrep - sold in glass bottles. Affects gram-positive bacteria.
- Maximax - sold in syringe dispensers. It affects staphylococci, streptococci, pathogenic anaerobes, etc.
- Penmicin - destroys gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Does not affect viruses and fungi.
- Dorin - affects microbes that multiply in the exudate of the udder.
- Penicillin.
- Erythromycin.
- Monomycin.
- Neomycin and others.
The solutions must be warmed up to the temperature of the cow's body before administration. For one injection, 80 ml is enough.
If the case is started, the cow is prescribed a combination of drugs. For example, combinations give a good combination:
- penicillin and streptomycin;
- streptomycin and erythromycin;
- neomycin and tetracycline.
If the cow has a chronic purulent form, antibiotics may not help. If atrophy of the parenchyma occurs, the milk ducts are not restored, on the contrary, the infection spreads further and further.
On the video, experts talk about the treatment of mastitis with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs:
Complex treatment
Mastitis not only changes the udder of a cow, it affects the general condition of the body. Therefore, a sick animal should receive comprehensive treatment. Antibiotics alone are not enough to treat mastitis - you need to not only kill the infection, but also restore the immunity of the cow. If the animal has an acute form of the disease, along with antibiotics use:
- streptocide liquid solution - intravenously;
- inside the udder - 1% solution of streptocide or 2.5% solution of ichthyol.
If the cow has a severe form of the disease, antibiotics supplement:
- 40% glucose solution;
- 10% solution of calcium chloride / gluconate (100-150 ml);
- 0.25% solution of novocaine (0.5-1 ml per 1 kg of weight).
In parallel with the animal, the following procedures are performed:
- applications with valeter or anixide;
- the application of camphor or ichthyol ointments;
- warming with paraffin or ozokerite - for 3-5 days;
- warming up with an infrared lamp.
In particularly difficult conditions - with purulent inflammation, abscess, gangrene, phlegmon, the animal is recommended to be introduced additionally:
- Glucose 40% - 400 ml.
- A solution of calcium chloride or gluconate - up to 150 ml.
- Saline with novocaine - 1 ml per 1 kg of weight.
- Urotropin with calcium chloride - 10 ml.
- A solution of calcium permanganate 1% - with gangrene is injected directly into the nipple of the diseased lobe.
- Caffeine - to maintain the body.
With the appearance of abscesses and ulcers, it is necessary to carry out their autopsy. The operation needs to be trusted only by a specialist. Open abscesses need care as open wounds.
The video talks about the most popular and effective drugs for mastitis. Express review of ointments, sprays and creams:
Massage
In mastitis, an udder and nipple massage is indicated. Before milking, the udder is wiped with warm water, and then each nipple is gently and gently massaged alternately. The movements should as if push the nipples up. Please note:
- With serous and fibrous form - if there is still no soreness, massaging is performed twice a day. Massage should begin from below.
- With catarrhal massage, on the contrary, begin from above.
- With hemorrhagic mastitis, massage is contraindicated.
Folk methods
Mastitis is a serious disease that requires analysis and supervision by a veterinarian. It is not recommended to be limited to the so-called "folk" treatment methods. Lack of adequate medical care can end fatally for the animal. Alternative methods can only serve as an addition to treatment. What they do to alleviate the condition of a cow with mastitis:
- make vodka compresses;
- apply grated carrots, leaves of coltsfoot, cabbage leaf, bean flour;
- apply compressors with rice starch - it must be diluted with boiled water to the consistency of sour cream;
- lubricate the udder with an ointment from a mixture of starch and vegetable oil;
- make compresses of milk, rye flour and butter;
- apply kombucha;
- apply a mixture of milk and baked onions;
- apply finely chopped daffodil bulbs.
With mastitis, warming and hot compresses are prohibited - elevated temperature promotes the growth of microbes.
Experienced pastoralists also recommend combating seals with eucalyptus ointment. You will need:
- eucalyptus leaves;
- soapy grass;
- Japanese acacia.
Take 4 tablespoons of each ingredient. Pour the mixture with boiling water (1 cup) and boil for 5 minutes. Having insisted and decanting the broth, 100 g of butter is put in it. The finished ointment is lubricated with the udder.
Compresses help relieve inflammation, reduce pain. Given the complexity of the disease, it is unlikely that compresses will help the animal, sick, for example, purulent mastitis. Alternative methods are only an addition to the treatment of inflammation. Inadequate treatment can lead to the following consequences:
- the disease becomes chronic or latent;
- part of the udder is lost;
- in the worst case, the animal dies.
Prevention
So that the cows do not get mastitis, they must comply with the rules of their maintenance and the technique of milking. The following measures are related to the prevention of mastitis:
- Animals must be kept in clean and warm rooms.
- Only specialists should work with cows. This is especially true for milking parlors.
- Cows should receive high-quality and nutritious food.
- Animals must be supervised by an experienced veterinarian.
- You need to monitor the condition of the udder - respond in time to cuts, wounds, cracks.
- Extreme care is required by the machine milking operator - if automated milking is used. Rough or inept movements can cause illness.
- Milking should be carried out regularly - at regular intervals.
- Before milking and after milking, you must definitely massage the udder.
Mastitis is a serious disease that, starting almost imperceptibly, can lead to culling of animals. To prevent losses, timely diagnosis and prevention are needed, and when a problem occurs, the help of a veterinarian.
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