Mastitis in dairy cows: herd pattern analysis

Identifying the pattern of mastitis on your farm allows control measures to be focused on where they will be most effective. Find out how to collate and interpret the data.

Analysis of somatic cell counts (SCCs) and the pattern of clinical mastitis cases can help narrow down whether most infections are acquired in the dry period, or during lactation. It can also help to reveal whether infections were acquired from the environment, or spread from cow to cow at milking (contagious).

The Mastitis Pattern Analysis Tool (MPAT)

Understanding mastitis data may seem a daunting task; to help with this an automated Mastitis Pattern Analysis Tool (MPAT) was developed by QMMS Ltd and the University of Nottingham.

The MPAT analyses the data from your Milk Recording Organisation and emails you a mastitis pattern report after every milk recording. The highest accuracy is achieved when both clinical mastitis and SCC records are available.

All clinical mastitis cases, even any cases which were not treated, should be recorded.

The automated MPAT is rapid and easy-to-use. You will be able to see if infections originate in the dry period or lactating period. The MPAT will help you identify if infection patterns are contagious or environmental. The effects on heifers and of mastitis recurrence and seasonality are also displayed in the report.

Mastitis Pattern Analysis Tool report

Main patterns of mastitis on dairy farms:

Realistic goals for your farm can be set for the next year, based on pattern analysis results and the management practices relevant to the main pattern of mastitis you identify.

The farm team can then make an action plan, including a timeline and assigning responsibility for key actions. For more information, see our QuarterPRO resources.

Can I use the MPAT if I don’t milk record?

The automated MPAT will only work if you currently milk record, and will be more reliable if data on clinical mastitis cases are available. Speak with your milk recording organisation for advice on collecting and recording clinical case data with them for input into the automated MPAT.

Ideally, mild cases of clinical mastitis should be recorded even if they do not need to be treated. Providing this data to your milk recording organisation will help to improve the accuracy of your mastitis pattern analysis reports.

If you do not milk record you can still use the previous Excel-based version of the MPAT if you have good records of all cases of clinical mastitis on your farm. However, the original MPAT also needs inputs from TotalVet, such as herd structure information. For example, calving dates and days in milk of all cows in the herd (to know when in lactation mastitis cases occurred).

A critical part of the analysis evaluates the timing of mastitis cases and the proportion of cows affected in a group. The tool cannot be used if the only data available is a list of cow numbers and the dates on which they had mastitis.