Page 16 Dairy Star Saturday, February 27, 2016

What are some of the preventive measures you currently do that you feel are critical in keeping your SCC low?

Boesl: Regular vacuum level checks, keep-ing cows clean and being diligent on vaccinations. Keeping routines consistent and reducing stress on cows is also key.

Gehl Acres Farm: We use dry cow treatment and Orbeseal at dry off. We vaccinate with J-Vac. We have a sound dry cow nutrition program, mak-ing sure of good levels of trace minerals and vita-mins in the diet. We keep dry cows well bedded with straw. When cows freshen, we use a strip cup to check milk quality. DHI testing is very important for managing our milk quality. The SCC reports are usually the rst reports we look at. We also use a CMT paddle to check for abnormal milk. We also have used DNA-PCR testing to culture cows. We may use this in addition to traditional culturing, to get good answers as to what pathogens are causing mastitis. If we suspect a Staph cow, we milk her last, and we are happy when she is culled. We also make sure our feed quality is high and our rations are well balanced to keep good immune function in our cows. Leiding: We have a tiestall barn, so we make sure cows are scraped behind several times each day. We make sure they have clean straw under them and when they go out. The freestall barn has clean, fresh sand bedding also. We use lime to keep the stalls dry and clean. We CMT problem cows of-ten. Merdan: We CMT all fresh cows and heifers before putting their milk in the tank. We also CMT any cows and heifers that we feel are questionable. There are many times when a cow will not visibly show mastitis, but the CMT test will pick it up. We also receive texts from AMPI with each milk pickup showing the SCC and other information. This alerts us if there is a sudden increase in the SCC. We also look at DHIA records identifying high SCC cows. All cows are dry treated with Spectramast Dry Cow and Orbeseal.

Schumacher: There are many things to keep our SCC low. It is important that the cows are clean and healthy. We provide quality feed for them from the time they are born. The bedding for the freestalls stays clean and well groomed. Milking equipment must be clean and working correctly. Consistency of the milking processes is also important, as well as a good quality pre and post dip. We also dry treat the cows and heifers before they calve. Because I do most of the milking myself, I know the cows and

I can tell which ones need extra attention.When your SCC starts to go up, what are the rst things you do to keep it in check? Boesl: It is usually just one cow that can throw the numbers quickly. Extra attention is given to the stripping step in udder prep to nd the problem cow. Teat ends are also examined. Gehl Acres Farm: If SCC starts to creep up, we start looking to see who is causing the problem. We will check cows with the CMT paddle and use DHI testing to nd the high SCC cows. We work with our vet on a treatment plan when needed. We may end up culling the cow if she is a persistent problem. Leiding: We pay attention to details and the hard work pays off when we see it in our milk check. The extra $.80 to $1 for a milk quality pre-mium helps with todays low milk prices. It means the difference in making a pro t or breaking even. Merdan: If our SCC goes up, the rst thing we try to do is really focus on each and every cow we are milking. We make sure there is absolutely no swelling or hard quarters especially on cows that have one quarter that nishes before or after all of the other ones. Also, we focus on cows that have had issues in the past, and look at a recent DHIA test. We CMT any cows that we have concerns about. Schumacher: The rst thing I do is to nd out what cow is causing the problem and then I decide what action I should take to care for the cow. If it is a repeating factor of many cows, I like to make sure my equipment is working correctly. Sometimes all you can do is blame the weather and ght your way through it. I can have months where I am be treat-ing a lot of cows for mastitis and I can have months when I have no cows to treat. It can be a roller-coaster ride.What advice do you have for someone who is trying to lower their SCC? Boesl: Take a look at how many band-aids you have on your farm. There are hundreds of products out there that are supposed to x the problems. Sometimes taking a step back and simplifying things can result in healthier animals. It could be as simple as a small adjustment in timing of vaccines or reducing use of some additives that can go a long way. Gehl Acres Farm: My advice to anyone trying to lower their SCC would be to DHI test to nd what cows are causing the problem. Use culturing to nd

Con nued from FROM OUR SIDE OF THE FENCE | Page 15what pathogens you are dealing with and develop an effective treatment protocol. Cull the cows thatare chronic problems. Make sure you have a sound milking routine and cows are calm and clean. Reg-ularly service your milking equipment by someone who is knowledgeable and experienced. Dont be afraid to ask questions. We like the UW-Madisonmilk quality website and use UW-Extension people to gain information that will help our farm.

Leiding: We pay attention to details and the hard work pays off when we see it in our milkcheck. The extra $.80 to $1 for a milk quality pre-mium helps with todays low milk prices. It means the difference in making a pro t or breaking even.

Merdan: I would advise them to rst make surethat they have a consistent milking routine. Look atyour recent DHIA tests and identify problem cowsand then CMT them. It is often just one quarter on a cow that is causing an extremely high count. Youthen have to decide whether you want to treat thatcow, quarter milk that cow, or cull it. I also feel that it is very important to CMT all fresh cows and heifers to identify any problems right away. TheCMT test is a very cheap and quick way to identify a problem cow. You also need to make sure that youare making it a goal to produce quality milk.

Schumacher: Start with the basics. Most of itis common sense keeping the cows clean and do-ing a thorough job. Dont take short cuts to try tosave time. It comes back to haunt you later and canbecome a bigger problem than you had before.Why is it important for you to have a low SCC?

Boesl: We take pride in having healthy animals. The SCC count is one way for us to know that whatwe are doing is working. We want to know that we are doing our part in giving the consumer a highquality product.

Gehl Acres Farm: It is important for our farmto have a low SCC because the milk check premi-um is so very important to pro tability. With tightmargins we need to focus on doing a great job onmilk quality and production.

Leiding: Its a good feeling to know that yourhard work is paying off and youre producing a quality product.

Merdan: The most important reason to have alow SCC would be to receive the quality premiumsfor milk.

Schumacher: I feel that it is important to pro-duce the best product that I can for the consumer. The extra money for making a better product helps,too.

The National Dairy Shrine is again looking for applications for its annual scholarship program. Applications are accepted from March 1 until the dead-line of April 15. Of cial scholarship ap-plication award forms are available on the NDS web site, www.dairyshrine.org under scholarships. The National Dairy Shrine Student Recognition Program recognizes and rewards graduating seniors planning a career in the dairy industry. There will be a $2,000 cash award given to the winner, a $1,500 reward for second place, and three to seven $1000 cash awards depending on the number and quality of applicants. The National Dairy Shrine/Dairy Management, Inc. (DMI) Milk Mar-keting-Dairy Products Scholarships are available to encourage students to pursue careers in the marketing or de-velopment of dairy products. The win-ner receives a $1500 scholarship while the other winners receive $1000 schol-arships. Up to ve winners are recog-nized annually. The National Dairy Shrine/Dairy Management, Inc. (DMI) Education & Communication Scholarships are avail-able to encourage students to pursue

careers in the education or communica-tion of the value of dairy products and the dairy industry. The winner receives a $1500 scholarship while the other winners receive $1000 scholarships. Up to ve winners are recognized an-nually. The Kildee Scholarships are of-fered in two categories. Graduate study applicants may include the top 25 All-American contestants in one of the past three National Intercollegiate Dairy Cattle Contests plus the First and Sec-ond Place teams in the North Ameri-can Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge National contests. These students are eligible to apply for two $3000 gradu-ate school scholarships. Undergradu-ate students may apply in their junior or senior year of college for one $1000 Kildee Undergraduate scholarship. Ap-plicants for this scholarship must have been one of the top 25 contestants at the National 4-H or FFA Dairy Judging Contests. The National Dairy Shrine Junior Merit Scholarship recognizes and re-wards current college juniors planning a career in the dairy industry. There will be a $1,500 cash award given to the winner and two to ve more $1000

cash awards depending on the number and quality of applicants. The National Dairy Shrine Sopho-more Merit Scholarship recognizes and rewards current college sophomores planning a career in the dairy industry. There will be a $1,500 cash award giv-en to the winner and two to ve more $1000 cash awards depending on the number and quality of applicants. Two NDS/McCullough scholar-ships of $2000 and $1,500 are awarded annually to high school seniors intend-ing to enter a four year college or uni-versity and major in: Dairy/Animal Sci-ence with a Communications emphasis or Agriculture Journalism with a Dairy/Animal Science emphasis. Up to two NDS/Iager Dairy Schol-arships will be awarded in the amount of $1,000 to second year college students enrolled in a two-year agricultural col-lege. This scholarship is sponsored by a fund created by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Iager of Fulton, Maryland. There will be two NDS/Maurice Core Dairy Scholarships awarded in the amount of $1,000 to a freshman col-lege student in a four year agricultural college. This scholarship is sponsored from a fund created in honor of Mau-

rice E. Core long-time industry leaderand past Executive Director of National Dairy Shrine. There are three NDS/Klussendorfscholarships given in the amount of$1,500 to students in their rst, second, or third year at a two or four year col-lege or university. Applicants need tomajor in Dairy or Animal Science withintentions to enter the dairy cattle in-dustry. There are four NDS/McKownscholarships given in the amount of$1,500 to students in their rst, second, or third year at a two or four year col-lege or university. Applicants need tomajor in Dairy or Animal Science withintentions to enter the dairy cattle in-dustry. If you would like to apply for anyof these scholarships, please visit theNDS website at www.dairyshrine.org to download the applications. If you have any questions, please contact the NDSof ce at info@dairyshrine.org. Win-ners of these awards will be announced this summer, with the presentation ofawards to be held at the annual NDSawards banquet in Madison, Wisconsinon Thursday October 6, 2016.

NDS scholarship applications due April 15