Pantoja JCF, Reinemann DJ, Ruegg PL. Associations among milk quality indicators in raw bulk milk. J Dairy Sci. 2009;92:4978–87. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2009-2329. Schreiner DA, Ruegg PL. Relationship between udder and leg hygiene scores and subclinical mastitis. J Dairy Sci. 2003;86:3460–5. Most intramammary antibiotics are designed to be effective against most common mastitis pathogens, but some have a narrow spectrum. Systemic antibiotics tend to have a narrower spectrum. So determining antibiotics to use for first-line should be based on a thorough understanding of the main pathogens on your farm. This is critical to the development of your mastitis SOP; input from your veterinarian is essential in determining the most appropriate antibiotics to use on your farm. True antibiotic failure is a rare cause of poor treatment response.

The identification of farm-level risk factors affecting the occurrence of S. aureus in bulk milk is important in the prevention and control of the organism [ 79]. Risk factors that affected the presence of S. aureus in bulk milk in the study area were barn cleanliness, cow cleanliness, udder cleanliness and sex of the milker. In line with our findings, S. aureus was reported to be more prevalent in farms with poor milking hygiene [ 82] and dirty udders [ 39] than in those with better hygiene. In this study, the occurrence of S. aureus was higher in farms where milking was performed by males than in those milked by female farmers. This might be attributed to the better experience of females in cleaning. In Ethiopia, milking of cows and, cleaning of milk utensils and the barn are mostly performed by females. van Schaik G, Green LE, Guzma’n D, Esparza H, Tadich N. Risk factors for bulk milk somatic cell counts and total bacterial counts in smallholder dairy farms in the 10th region of Chile. Prev Vet Med. 2005;67:1–17. Oliveira CJB, Júnior WDL, Queiroga RCRE, Givisiez PEN, Azevedo PS, Pereira WE, Gebreyes WA. Risk factors associated with selected indicators of milk quality in semiarid northeastern Brazil. J Dairy Sci. 2011;94:3166–75.Coliform count estimates the number of coliform bacteria in milk [ 16]. Coliforms in milk primarily originate from the cow’s environment. Coliform bacteria in milk are an indicator of faecal contamination, often from soiled udders and teats. High levels of CC (> 10 3 cfu/mL) in raw milk may indicate poor environmental hygiene, poor hygienic milking practices and further handling, improperly cleaned milk equipment, contaminated water, inadequate refrigeration, or the presence of coliform mastitis [ 13, 17, 18]. High CC indicates possible contamination of milk by pathogenic bacteria of public health significance, such as Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O157:H7 [ 15, 19]. Factors associated with the occurrence of S. aureus in farm bulk milk in the univariable logistic regression analysis were age of the farm owner ( P = 0.032), sex of the milker ( P = 0.058), barn cleanliness ( P = 0.003), cow cleanliness ( P = 0.003), udder cleanliness ( P = 0.002), milk utensil hygiene ( P = 0.004), herd size ( P = 0.197) and season ( P = 0.079). Fig 5: There is little sense in treating an older cow with chronic Staph aureus and a persistently high cell count Antibiotics

Asiimwe BB, Baldan R, Trovato A, Cirillo DM. Prevalence and molecular characteristics of Staphylococcus aureus, including methicillin resistant strains, isolated from bulk can milk and raw milk products in pastoral communities of South-West Uganda. BMC Infect Dis. 2017;17:1–8. Abebe R, Hatiya H, Abera M, Megersa B, Asmare K. Bovine mastitis: prevalence, risk factors and isolation of Staphylococcus aureus in dairy herds at Hawassa milk shed, South Ethiopia. BMC Vet Res. 2016;12:1–11.

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For some cows no matter how much antibiotic you use the chances of cure are very low. For example a 5-year old cow, treated at 150 days in milk, with a SCC of 2,000,000 cells/mL because of Staph aureus infection has approximately 1% chance of cure. The main reason for failure in these cases is that the antibiotics never reach the bacteria in sufficient concentration. These cows need to be identified and removed from the herd. Treatment will not be economic. Summary Once it is identified, it is important to identify the severity of mastitis as this is crucial in determining what treatment to give. Da Costa LB, Rajala-Schultz PJ, Schuenemann GM. Management practices associated with presence of Staphylococcus aureus in bulk tank milk from Ohio dairy herds. J Dairy Sci. 2016;99:1364–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.3168/jds.2015-9870. Mild mastitis: Abnormality of the milk is the main sign with little evidence of change in the udder and no systemic signs such as dullness and loss of appetite. European Commission. Corrigendum to Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004. Laying down specific hygiene rules for food of animal origin. Off J Eur Union. 2004:22–82.

Murphy SC, Martin NH, Barbano DM, Wiedmann M. Influence of raw milk quality on processed dairy products: How do raw milk quality test results relate to product quality and yield ? J Dairy Sci. 2016;99:1–22. Oliveira R, Pinho E, Almeida G, Azevedo NF, Almeida C. Prevalence and diversity of Staphylococcus aureus and staphylococcal enterotoxins in raw Milk from northern Portugal. Front Microbiol. 2022;13:846653. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.846653.Hayes MC, Ralyea RD, Murphy SC, Carey NR, Scarlett JM, Boor KJ. Identification and characterization of elevated microbial counts in bulk tank raw milk. J Dairy Sci. 2001;84:292–8. Cortimiglia C, Luini M, Bianchini V, Marzagalli L, Vezzoli F, Avisani D, Bertoletti M,Ianzano A,Franco A,Battisti A. Short Report. Prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus and of methicillin-resistant S. aureus clonal complexes in bulk tank milk from dairy cattle herds in Lombardy Region (Northern Italy). Epidemiol Infect. 2016;144:3046–51. Seyoum B, Kefyalew H, Abera B, Abdela N. Prevalence, risk factors and antimicrobial susceptibility test of Staphylococcus aureus in bovine cross breed Mastitic Milk in and around Asella town, Oromia regional state, Southern Ethiopia. Acta Trop. 2017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actatropica.2017.09.012. Bava L, Zucali M, Sandrucci A, Brasca M, Vanoni L, Zanini L, Tamburini A. Effect of cleaning procedure and hygienic condition of milking equipment on bacterial count of bulk tank milk. J Dairy Res. 2011;78:211–9. https://doi.org/10.1017/S002202991100001X. Our Skin Milk Udder Cream is also used in Oncology hospitals and clinics across Australia as a moisturising cream for dry and damaged skin following radiation treatment and chemotherapy.

Nádia M, Diane S, Débora O, Mirlei RE. Evaluation of microbiological quality of raw Milk produced at two properties in the far west of Santa Catarina, Brasil. Food Public Heal. 2012;2:79–84. https://doi.org/10.5923/j.fph.20120203.04. In this study, farm owners of the selected 50 farms were interviewed. In the majority of study farms, dairy cows were managed intensively (84%). Hand milking was practiced in all farms and cows were milked twice a day, in the morning and evening. Raw milk was consumed by 56% of dairy farmers interviewed. The majority of respondents (74%) did not receive training on hygienic milk production practices and 71.4% of these dairy farmers consumed raw milk. Udder drying using towels was practiced by only 14% of dairy farmers, and they used one towel for multiple cows. The majority of farmers (92%) used plastic containers for milking and milk storage, while 8% used stainless steel containers or Mazzican. Smoking of milk containers was practiced by the majority of dairy farmers (72%) in the study area. They fumigate milk containers by burning the stems of Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata, locally known as ejersa. In most farms (80%), milking was performed by a family member, while 20% of the farms used hired milkers. Except for one government farm, the other farms did not have a separate milking parlor. Although inadequate, all dairy farmers practiced teat washing without using detergent and flush their hands with the water that they used for teat cleaning. Some farmers moistened the teats by inserting their fingers into the milk when they became dry between milking. None of the farmers practiced pre- or postmilking antiseptic teat dipping, nor did they practice fore-stripping. Descriptive statistics for sociodemographic characteristics and hygiene factors are presented in Tables 2 and 3. Microbiological quality of bulk milk Hamiroune M, Berber A, Boubekeur S, Smar O. Evaluation of the bacteriological quality of raw cow’s milk at various stages of the milk production chain on farms in Algeria. Rev Sci Tech Off Int Epiz. 2016;35:1–26. Cicconi-Hogan KM, Gamroth M, Richert R, Ruegg PL, Stiglbauer KE, Schukken YH. Risk factors associated with bulk tank standard plate count, bulk tank coliform count, and the presence of Staphylococcus aureus on organic and conventional dairy farms in the United States. J Dairy Sci. 2013;96:7578–90.

Papadopoulos P, Papadopoulos L, Angelidis AS, Boukouvala E, Zdragas A, Papa A, Hadjichristodoulou C, Sergelidis D. Prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus and of methicillin-resistant S . aureus (MRSA) along the production chain of dairy products in north-western Greece. Food Microbiol. 2018;69:43–50. The detection of Staphylococcus or Corynebacterium in all quarter samples were consistent with other studies [ 2, 14, 15, 22]. The udder microbiota of the L-cows turned out to be highly dynamic and diverse with fluctuations between the relative abundance of genera from one sampling to the next. In the one case where an IMI was detected and accompanied by an increase in the relative abundance of Corynebacterium and Novosphingobium, a diverse microbiota composition had been reestablished by the next sampling. A different tendency was recorded for the H-cows. In quarters with an established IMI or a raised SCC due to dominance of one genus ( Staphylococcus or Corynebacterium), returning to a diverse microbiota composition turned out to be difficult, and the dominant genus was found to linger throughout the whole sampling period. Some quarters appear to be dominated by Corynebacterium or Staphylococcus, yet they were culture negative under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions and have therefore not been labeled as having an IMI. This inconsistency between the 16S data and the culturing results is likely due to the inability of laboratory culturing methods to cultivate all bacteria in a sample. The criteria used to define a quarter sample as IMI positive in this study was chosen to identify as many IMIs as possible. Whilst definition “A” from Dohoo et al. [ 23] certainly achieves this, it can also introduce false positives to the dataset. To make up for this it would have been prudent to include species identification after plating on blood agar as an additional screening method for quarters with IMI.