Skip to main content

Table 1 Characteristics of two Finnish dairy farms with high incidence of Serratia marcescens cases

From: Description of two Serratia marcescens associated mastitis outbreaks in Finnish dairy farms and a review of literature

Character

Herd 1

Herd 2

Farm type

Tie stall, 5-year old barn

Tie stall, renovated 15 years ago

Herd size

45

37

Cow breed(s)

Ayrshire

Holstein–Friesian

Annual average milk yield (litre/cow)

11,111

10,058

Stalls

Rubber mattresses, no bedding

Saw dust bedding

Environment

Clean environment and good hygiene practices. Cows at pasture in summertime. Pasture clean and dry, but a muddy area around the feeding rack and water tank

Clean environment and good hygienic practices except that the stalls for the biggest cows were too short and thus dirty. Cows at pasture during summertime

Milking devices

Six milking units with automatic take offs

Six milking units with automatic take offs

Udder and teat cleaning before milking

Separate moist towels for each cow, machine washing and drying of towels between milkings

Separate moist towels for each cow, machine washing and drying of towels between milkings

CMT test

Routinely on all cows once a week and always if the cow has signs of mastitis

On all cows if bulk tank milk SCC elevated, and for cows with clinical signs of mastitis

Bacteriological testing of milk samples (PCR)

If CMT > 2

If CMT > 2

Post milking disinfection

Viri-Dip plusa, re-usable spray bottles that were filled daily from a storage canister and rinsed with tap water between the fillings. Storage canister had a pump that was moved to a new canister without cleaning

Viri-Dip plusa, re-usable spray bottles that were filled daily from a storage canister and rinsed with tap water between the fillings. Storage canister had a pump that was moved to a new canister without cleaning

Other practices

Selective dry cow therapy, approximately 50% of cows treated. Udder supporters were used for almost all cows

Selective dry cow therapy, only for few cows. Udder supporters lined with newspapers were used for cows with large udders.

Water quality

Well water met the legislative requirements

Well water met the legislative requirements

Most commonly used antimicrobial for treating mastitis

Procaine penicillin

Procaine penicillin

  1. a A product containing n,n-bis (3-aminopropyl) dodecylamine, lactic acid, allantoin, glycerol and sorbitol (Viri-Dip plus, Novadan ApS, Danmark)