DairyCo

5 Point Plan - Mastitis prevention

The original Five Point Plan was devised in the 1960s by the National Institute for Research into Dairying (NIRD) and has been updated as progress has been made into mastitis prevention and treatment, and also as the illness itself has adapted due to changes in technology, herd size and milking techniques.

The original 5 points were amended during the late 1990s as part of The National Mastitis Action Plan to include a sixth point:

1. Hygienic teat management: which includes good housing management, effective teat preparation and disinfection for good milk hygiene, teat health and disease control.
2. Prompt identification and treatment of clinical mastitis cases: including the use of the most appropriate treatment for the symptoms.
3. Dry cow management and therapy: where cows are dried off abruptly and teats are cleaned scrupulously before dry cow antibiotics are administered, including the use of teat-end sealants if appropriate.
4. Culling chronically affected cows: cows that become impossible to cure and represent a reservoir of infection for the whole herd.
5. Regular testing and maintenance of the milking machine: with regular, recommended teatcup liner replacement and milking machine servicing and attention paid to items which must be checked on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.
6.  Good record keeping: of all aspects of mastitis treatment, dry cow therapy, milking machine servicing, Somatic Cell Counts and Bactoscan results, and clinical mastitis cases.

DairyCo's Mastitis Control Plan aims to build on this work and create a modern, up-to-date, holistic whole-farm approach to the prevention and control of mastitis.