Editor’s note: The following information is reprinted with permission from a National Mastitis Council fact sheet. DefinitionOrganic dairy production in the U.S. is regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) via its National Organic Program (NOP). The NOP was established with the passage of the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) by Congress in 1990.
The USDA organic certification program began in 2002. The NOP promotes a holistic definition of “organic” including resource and biological conservation, ecological balance and natural inputs.
In general, all synthetic substances are prohibited in organic production unless otherwise stated in the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances.
Certain synthetic substances are allowed, such as vaccines, electrolytes and iodine-based teat dips.
Other synthetic substances are allowed only in defined circumstances, such as flunixin meglumine, xylazine and chlorhexidine.
Veterinary supervision and extended withholds may also be required for these products. Certain substances, such as antibiotics and hormones, are not allowed under any circumstances.
Any animal that receives a prohibited product must be permanently removed from organic production. An up-to-date National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances can be found on the USDA NOP website.
Organic standards are monitored and enforced by various USDA-accredited certifying agencies (private or government-based) throughout the U.S. These agencies act to certify operations as organic and are responsible for monitoring each operation with yearly inspections and review of the required organic plan.
Prevention of mastitis
Antibiotics, including those used in dry cow therapy, are not allowed for use in organically produced milk in the U.S. If an animal does get sick and requires antibiotics, she must leave organic production permanently.
Accordingly, the inability to use antibiotics in organic production in the U.S. means those aspects of dairy management geared towards the prevention of mastitis are especially important.
The basic recommendations for mastitis prevention are therefore re-emphasized. Briefly outlined below are some necessary steps in the prevention of new mastitis cases on the dairy farm.
The two basic factors in controlling mastitis are minimizing the rate of new infections and the duration of existing infections.
The inability to use lactating and dry cow intramammary antibiotics and teat sealants eliminates one of the means by which dairy farmers can reduce the incidence or duration of mastitis during lactation and the dry period. Some individuals may consider the use of natural “nutraceuticals” to treat mastitis.
However, this practice can be problematic at several levels, including the lack of studies evaluating the efficacy of these treatments, as well as processing steps, which may render these nutraceuticals synthetic compounds and thus not accepted under organic regulatory guidelines.
Furthermore, no nutraceuticals are labeled specifically for the treatment of mastitis. Extra-label use of therapeutics in food-producing animals is governed under the Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act (AMDUCA). Per AMDUCA, extra-label use of non-FDA-approved pharmaceuticals is strictly prohibited.
Hence, organic dairy farmers must rely on controlling the rate of new infections through proper milking hygiene, teat dipping, milking machine maintenance, bedding and housing management, nutrition, vaccination, herd biosecurity, reduction of stress and genetic improvement.
Training of employees in application of mastitis prevention measures will also be important.
A review of the steps in controlling mastitis cases:
1. Before milking, teats should be forestripped and disinfected with a sanitizing teat dip registered or listed with the FDA. On organic dairies, iodine-based dips are preferred, with chlorhexidine-based dips allowed when iodine-based dips are not deemed effective.
After 20 to 30 seconds, the teats are dried with a disposable paper or recently washed, disinfected and dried cloth towel before milking unit attachment.
Badly soiled teats should be wiped with a towel before stripping. These procedures help in the prevention of environmental mastitis caused by environmental Streptococcus spp. and coliforms such as E. coli.
Proper pre-milking procedures include the use of gloves, good tactile stimulation (forestripping or wiping, depending on which comes first in the preparation procedures) and unit attachment 60 to 120 seconds later.
2. After milking, teats should be dipped with a teat dip registered or listed with the FDA. This procedure helps in the prevention of new intramammary infections caused by contagious pathogens such as Streptococcus agalactiae, Staphylococcus aureus or Mycoplasma spp.
Barrier teat dips can also be used if environmental conditions warrant protection from invasion by environmental mastitis pathogens between milkings.
3. Milking machine maintenance should include proper sizing and calibration of the vacuum system, monitoring the teat end vacuum level, proper pulsator ratios as well as properly functioning pulsators, cluster and liner maintenance, and proper cleaning and sanitization of milking equipment.
4. The mastitis control program also requires an understanding of the common mastitis pathogens specific to each farm and the incidence of disease. This entails monitoring for clinical and subclinical mastitis. Clinical mastitis can be monitored using pre-milking stripping of mammary quarters.
Subclinical mastitis is usually monitored via somatic cell count (SCC). Somatic cell count can be monitored at the mammary quarter, cow and bulk tank levels.
Somatic cell count can be measured at the cow or quarter level by direct measurement, such as through Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI), or indirectly by the California Mastitis Test (CMT) or other cowside SCC tests.
The CMT has the advantage of being inexpensive, and gives real-time, cowside results, but only provides a subjective measure of inflammation rather than an actual quantitative measure. Bulk milk SCC gives the producer an overall impression of the udder health in the herd but will not allow management of individual cows.
Culturing of milk from cows or mammary quarters with clinical or subclinical mastitis will give the producer an indication of where to focus mastitis control efforts, i.e., the cow’s environment (environmental pathogens) or milking time hygiene (contagious pathogens).
Bulk tank cultures can also be used as a rough estimate of potential pathogens being shed in milk but, as with bulk tank SCC, will not be specific enough to facilitate management at the cow level.
5. Maintaining a clean, dry, comfortable and stress-free environment for the cows between and during milking is important. This includes the frequent replacement of used bedding and scraping of alleyways.
A proper stall design that allows cows to lie down and get up comfortably and the absence of stress factors such as crowding, rough handling by employees, excessive heat and humidity, and lack of consistent milking routine are all important factors.
Summary
1. In the U.S., organic livestock operations are governed by the USDA through their National Organic Program (NOP).
2. Each organic operation that markets more than $5,000 in product must be certified by a government or private NOP-approved certifying agency.
3. Organic producers can only use non-synthetic substances on their operation unless a substance is on the list of approved synthetic substances.
4. Since antibiotics are not on the list and therefore not approved for organic livestock operations, the emphasis for mastitis control must be in prevention of new infections.
5. This emphasis on prevention requires that organic dairies be well managed through excellent pre-milking and post-milking hygiene, machine maintenance, nutrition, environment and bedding management, and monitoring of both clinical and subclinical mastitis. PD
PHOTO
In general, all synthetic substances are prohibited in organic production unless otherwise stated in the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances. Certain synthetic substances are allowed, such as vaccines, electrolytes and iodine-based teat dips. Photo by PD staff.
