When (Date/Time) April 11, 2014, 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Where Mercer County Spring Sale- Mercer County 4-H Park, 463 North Perry Hwy, Mercer, PA
The Penn State Extension Dairy Milk Quality team is working with eight farms across the state to implement on farm milk culturing. This project has been made available through a partnership grant that is being funded by NE SARE. Three locations will be available for you to attend and observe the practice in action and hear the success stories of the producers.
Many producers treat clinical mastitis using antibiotics when often antibiotics are an ineffective treatment method. The lack of treatment knowledge and education on mastitis causing bacteria has led to overuse of antibiotics on our dairy farms. Adoption of an on-farm culture program would enable dairy producers to become educated on the different types of bacteria that cause mastitis.
Some bacteria respond well to antibiotics, while some do not respond at all. Knowledge of what pathogen is causing clinical mastitis will allow producers to make proactive treatment decisions. Producers will be able to culture cows on farm and obtain bacteriology results the next day allowing an educated decision regarding treatment to be made. This in turn will cut costs associated with treatment, reduce antibiotic use, improve animal well-being, increase milk quality and profitability.