Confused about SCC

B25

I got milk samples from all the cows tested for SCC 7 days ago. I took out all the high ones. Averaged out the SCC for the rest at 180,000 which works out fine for me. Just got a text from Dairygold stating my SCC is 480,000. I just can't figure out what is going on. Any ideas?

whelan1

have you had any fresh cows come in since?

Timmaay

I had a cow tested at 49 in the milk recording done on a monday come down with masitits the following weekend! It can vary a hell of alot in a short space of time!

B25

No I kept out the one fresh cow I had. There is absolutely no sign of Mastitis. I suppose I must go back to the drawing board and get them all tested again and see if any have increased dramatically.

whelan1

B25 wrote: »

No I kept out the one fresh cow I had. There is absolutely no sign of Mastitis. I suppose I must go back to the drawing board and get them all tested again and see if any have increased dramatically.

do you have a cmt(california mastitis test) i find it a godsend for finding the culprits

td5man

B25 wrote: »

No I kept out the one fresh cow I had. There is absolutely no sign of Mastitis. I suppose I must go back to the drawing board and get them all tested again and see if any have increased dramatically.

Are you teat dipping properly, i'm paying more attention to it since some know it all was spoofing about it on here.
Scc is well down here at the moment.

whelan1

td5man wrote: »

Are you teat dipping properly, i'm paying more attention to it since some know it all was spoofing about it on here.
Scc is well down here at the moment.

see now i saved you some money

td5man

whelan1 wrote: »

see now i saved you some money

Teat dip is awful dear and then the time that it takes to spray them.

whelan1

td5man wrote: »

Teat dip is awful dear and then the time that it takes to spray them.

but you are not being penalised, think of the years it was wasted not spraying properly

td5man

whelan1 wrote: »

but you are not being penalised, think of the years it was wasted not spraying properly

It wasnt wasted i just left it in the drum

mahoney_j

My advice is to get some samples cultured and if you have staph etc it will show that up.My bet is that it is staph auerus or oberus

delaval

mahoney_j wrote: »

My advice is to get some samples cultured and if you have staph etc it will show that up.My bet is that it is staph auerus or oberus

Good point I would also recommend that you CMT all fresh cows as you release them into the tank. If you find one that fails test get sample done and milk her at the end to stop transfer:)

Timmaay

What do yas generally do with cows that remain high for SCC? When do ya's decide to put a quarter dry, or would yous keep on trying to clear it up with tubes etc? Its something we didn't really have the luxury of culling out of the herd in the past with not enough replacements, and with all year around calving the cows milk wasn't going to waste. Certainly a no no in the future for me however, too much risk of infecting other cows, and once afew cows are infected, it will keep on cycling across different cows, with the tank SCC yoyo'ing all season randomly!

TEAT SQUEEZER

Timmaay wrote: »

What do yas generally do with cows that remain high for SCC? When do ya's decide to put a quarter dry, or would yous keep on trying to clear it up with tubes etc? Its something we didn't really have the luxury of culling out of the herd in the past with not enough replacements, and with all year around calving the cows milk wasn't going to waste. Certainly a no no in the future for me however, too much risk of infecting other cows, and once afew cows are infected, it will keep on cycling across different cows, with the tank SCC yoyo'ing all season randomly!

zero tolerance.... have limited my mastitas cases no end since i started culing persistant offenders.. theyre just a haven for incurable mastitas and will do awful damage.. also i dip any cows that have had a case of mastitas in a bucket of peracetic acid sol. cmt is a great tool i agree

delaval

We CMT'd milkers on Tues am as we had a spike. Identified 4 cows 1 had quarter dried other 3 were culled as this was their second offence. Like yourself we now have the luxary of culling repeat offenders as opposed to constantly treating them. No tube in quarter dried band on leg at side dried red for front yellow for back

B25

I am teat dipping and when a cow has mastitis I just treat the quarter. I do have the california test but haven't used it for a while. Will get it out again tomorrow and start at the basics.

Thanks lads.

delaval

I will follow with interest as we have declared war on Scc this year. We hope to get it down to 120 by May. We have made uncommitted attempts in the past, as we were growing numbers the only culls were empties and phucked ladies.

TEAT SQUEEZER

delaval wrote: »

We CMT'd milkers on Tues am as we had a spike. Identified 4 cows 1 had quarter dried other 3 were culled as this was their second offence. Like yourself we now have the luxary of culling repeat offenders as opposed to constantly treating them. No tube in quarter dried band on leg at side dried red for front yellow for back

the bands are a simple but very effective way of informing relief milkers of whats what ... red for keep out of tank.. yellow for cluster dip .. blue for slow / contrary so put on first etc .. wonder what we ever did before em :D

delaval

Do any of you proof test for antibiotics before you let cows to tank. We have been doing for last two years you'd be amazed how quick some can go to tank, really hi solid milk but can lead to higher scc

Timmaay

TEAT SQUEEZER wrote: »

the bands are a simple but very effective way of informing relief milkers of whats what ... red for keep out of tank.. yellow for cluster dip .. blue for slow / contrary so put on first etc .. wonder what we ever did before em :D

Blue for 3spins here, and green for once a day/late lactation etc (no feed!). What did we do before them ha, plaster the cows with spray, and end up with 1/2 the herd marked and no idea what was what haha!

delaval

Timmaay wrote: »

Blue for 3spins here, and green for once a day/late lactation etc (no feed!). What did we do before them ha, plaster the cows with spray, and end up with 1/2 the herd marked and no idea what was what haha![/QUO
We keep antibiotic cows seperate but still put yellow tape on tail incase some eejit (never me) mixes them. I'm loving all these tips keep them coming:D:D:D:D

Timmaay

delaval wrote: »

Do any of you proof test for antibiotics before you let cows to tank. We have been doing for last two years you'd be amazed how quick some can go to tank, really hi solid milk but can lead to higher scc

What kit do you use for testing for antibiotics? I picked up a set of these a while back, waste of time 2bh, too hard to read the results correctly, anytime I was doubtful and it gave a very marginal result I would chicken out of putting the milk in the tank! http://www.magentadirect.ie/proddetail.php?prod=SNAPTESTMILK

And yeh, I'd definitely noticed in the milk recording, cows with a high SCC always have decent solids ha, are there physically more solids (or less water) in the high SCC milk, or does the SCC throw the solids test? (actually that's another question for yas all, with milk paid for by solids now, how do the co-ops test for solids, and how accurate is it!!)

TEAT SQUEEZER

delaval wrote: »

Do any of you proof test for antibiotics before you let cows to tank. We have been doing for last two years you'd be amazed how quick some can go to tank, really hi solid milk but can lead to higher scc

i do a delvo onalot of calved cows.. some can be quick and the odd one will really drag on but its a great tool for peace of mind and ease of workload. have tried the snap test aswell and theyre v good also a little harder to see the result cos its a more subtle colour change. big advantage of snap is almost instant result and no expensive set up. big disadvantage of delvo is any neighbour that knows u have it (or a friend of a friend) will turn up on your door sweatin over the bulk tank at the right wrong moment...:)

delaval

The one we have is the Charm test the same one as on Ganbia trucks. ours was €300 i think used to take 8 mins they have done some modifications now only takes 3 mins. Takes a little getting used to but very clear result. If you do wrong always pos result which makes very safe.

TEAT SQUEEZER

the delvo is similar purple fail ,yellow pass ... i have it years and have complete faith in it .. its only drawback is the 3 hr waitin time.. not great in a panic...try explaining that to the neighbour who can hear the lorry in the distance

delaval

I have a Delvo here if anyone wants it

John_F

delaval wrote: »

I have a Delvo here if anyone wants it

how much :rolleyes:

and where can the charm test be got.. whats in it that it costs €300, thought it was just the strip?? and also what is the 'incubation' procedure for the charm?

delaval

John_F wrote: »

how much :rolleyes:

and where can the charm test be got.. whats in it that it costs €300, thought it was just the strip?? and also what is the 'incubation' procedure for the charm?

We got ours through Glanbia. The cost is in the incubator and for strips. We calve quickly here (first of them anyway) and we wanted the same test kit as they were using on trucks. I thought We had made a mistake and that it was too dear but we use almost everyday during season. What I like is that it's fast. You do need to wait for incubator to reach correct temp only takes a few mins. If you are milking you can stop and test tank if you think you may have made a mistake it's that quick. Let's face it most of us have been there!!

whelan1

op, you can leave out single samples for the lorry driver to take away, with glanbia you normally get the results in a day or 2 that along with cmt should help, what do you bed your sheds with? Its unreal the difference teat spraying properly does... also milk recorder will come for a single milking just to do scc, but results can take up to a week.... if problem presists get some one from the dairies out and your milking machine technician

mf240

A good tip by loveata on another thread, was not to use an Iodine based dip if using builders lime on cubicles as they react and cause cracked tits

dar31

delvo all the cows before going to the tank, can gain a day safely on the milk and a lot safer than just checking dates.

bands on the legs are great, red for antibiotics, yellow-scc rinse claw after, blue on tail 3 spins, yellow/green on tail - in parlour feeding, blue spray down back of leg-spray for mortello, red on tail and both legs- dry cows
thank god none of us are colour blind

Farmer Ed

B25 wrote: »

I got milk samples from all the cows tested for SCC 7 days ago. I took out all the high ones. Averaged out the SCC for the rest at 180,000 which works out fine for me. Just got a text from Dairygold stating my SCC is 480,000. I just can't figure out what is going on. Any ideas?

Get people to come to the EGM and support the motion for independent milk testing. Even Dairygold board members are saying they are in favour of it,but are also saying it cant be done. That's just BS! Yes it can be up and running within a few weeks of us voting the get things changed! There are labs willig and able and just gunning to get the work and have already quoted a price to do the job. The whole thing should cost less than we pay the CEO in a year plus we can save having our own lab in Mallow! I understand there are 3 managers in the Mallow lab alone!