Dairy Event 2010: Farmers urged to wear gloves after mastitis survey
A third of respondents involved in The 2010 National Mastitis survey did not use gloves during milking, a statistic described as a “worry” by vet Andy Biggs.
“Gloves are such a cheap investment. As a food producing industry I would expect dairy farmers to wear gloves – this is not only a hygiene issue, but also reduces the spread of infection between cows,” he said at the Dairy Event and Livestock Show.
This year’s survey, undertaken by Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health, was one of the largest of its kind ever undertaken in the UK, with respondents representing 10% of dairy farmers.
Encouragingly, 44% of farmers surveyed had taken on board cluster disinfection – a much more time intensive process.
Also, a 38% of farmers pre-dipped and only 23% pre-sprayed. “This shows that advisors are getting the message across in terms of increased efficiency using dipping rather than spraying.”
Post milking disinfection was also undertaken by more people than pre milking, with only 1% of farmers not disinfecting after milking.
But use of spays and dips were almost equal at this stage. “47% used a post-milking spray with 48% dipping.”