Focus on… the cost of mastitis

The economic loss from one single case of clinical mastitis in Western Europe ranges from 200-300 euro. The magnitude of loss depends upon the bacteria involved, the herd’s production level, and the accuracy of farmer and veterinarian in detecting and treating animals with clinical mastitis. Most clinical mastitis cases occur in the first trimester of lactation. Both cows and heifers are concerned with mastitis. The proportion of heifers with mastitis around calving varies from 30-35%. Stress, negative energy status and metabolic disorders are believed to be important risk factors, however heifers can already be infected several weeks before their first calving.

The observed losses due to mastitis are: milk discarded during treatment and withholding periods, veterinary costs (treatment and visits), additional farm labour and occasional deaths and involuntary culling. Most of the time, one type of lost is unnoticed: drop in milk production for the remaining lactation period, while it is more than the three quarters of the total financial losses. The following table shows the repartition of the financial losses caused by mastitis.

This is even more underestimated in subclinical mastitis. In cases of a seemingly healthy herd, the subclinical form of mastitis, which occurs 20 to 50 times more often than the clinical form, can be very expensive. Research has demonstrated that 80% of occurrences of losses in milk-production-capacity are caused by the subclinical form of mastitis, without any visible disease symptoms.

Therefore, it is very important to PREVENT mastitis. Good hygiene is the solution to prevent spread of mastitis. The daily use of a predip, to prepare the teats, and a postdip, to protect them until next milking, together with cleaning and disinfecting the equipement used for milking are the keys to success.