North Yorkshire: Reducing mastitis in the dairy herd

Join us and vet James Breen, University of Nottingham, to find out more about tackling cases of mastitis in your herd. Representatives from NMR will also run through how data from milk recording can form an important part of a control plan.

For the past year, James has been working with strategic dairy farmers, Howard and Tom Pattison, Willow Tree Farm, to help them reduce the number of cases of mastitis in their herd by making small changes, including to their living space. They have since seen the rate of clinical mastitis decrease to just under 40 cases per 100 cows per year, largely due to fewer first cases of clinical mastitis. And in November 2022, they saw the lowest rate of first cases in three years, with only four reported. There were also no first cases of clinical mastitis reported in cows less than 30 days in milk.

James will share the latest data from Willow Tree and the key actions that have made a difference to the herd. We will also discuss the treatment outcomes and how the team have been able to achieve an exceptional reduction in new cell count infections.

At this meeting you will find out more about:

• How the team at Willow Tree have significantly reduced the number of new cases of mastitis
• Small changes you can make to living space to reduce cases of mastitis
• How the Mastitis Pattern Analysis Tool can help you understand how to tailor your own mastitis control plan

About Willow Tree

Willow Tree is located near Northallerton in North Yorkshire where it is farmed by the Pattison family.

The herd consists of around 280 cows with an average yield of 11,500 litres. Cows are milked twice daily in a herringbone parlour, calve all year round, and are fully housed. The cows are arranged into four milking sheds and two milking groups with one dry cow group.

About 150 replacement heifers are reared on-farm while beef calves are sold at around six weeks of age. Replacement heifers are served at 13 months, and in-calf heifers graze during the summer months.

Milking cow accommodation is provided in modern portal frame sheds fitted with 324 deep sand cubicles and integral feeding passages. Passages are tractor scraped with slurry deposited in an adjacent, concrete block-built slurry store.

Please note children under the age of 16 and dogs are not allowed at the event, even if they are staying in the car. Click here to find out more about AHDBs health and safety guidelines for events.