Devon dairy farm finds answer to its mastitis problem

A year ago, a significant number of cows at East Avercombe Farm, South Molton, were contracting mastitis in the fresh period.

The Hoskin family, who milk 130 all-year-round calving Holstein cows, worked with their vet and found the issue was environmental rather than contagious mastitis.

Management of environmental mastitis involves minimising the number of bacteria that can cause mastitis at the teat end.

Passages in the farm’s cubicle housing are scraped out constantly using a robotic scraper, with cows bedded on EnviroBed in the cubicle housing and EnviroBed and straw in the loose housing for the close-up dry cows.

Every 2–3 weeks, the loose pens are cleaned thoroughly, and fresh straw is applied daily. Bedding is also applied daily to the cubicles.  

After mentioning the problem to EnviroSystems’ Sarah Taylor, the family decided to try Cobiotex, a multi-strain bacterial bedding additive which forms protective biofilms over the bedding and cubicle surfaces.

The biofilms work by out competing the growth of pathogenic bacteria, including those linked to mastitis (E. Coli, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus) and digital dermatitis (Treponema, Dicholeobacter), reducing the risk of these diseases spreading.

Alan Hoskin said: “We haven’t changed anything else, and since using Cobiotex in our dry and fresh cow housing, cases of mastitis have dropped significantly, from 25% to just six cases, in the last six months. Our cell count has also remained consistently low over the winter in the mid-70s.”

The Hoskins apply Cobiotex once a week on top of the cubicles and loose housing bedding. “It is an expensive product, but it goes a long way, and we can’t afford not to use it. I don’t need to work the calculations out to know using Cobiotex is cheaper than getting a case of mastitis,” Alan explained.

“The armoury to fight mastitis is becoming less and less. Nowadays, drugs are dearer, there are fewer available, and the withdrawal periods are long, so we must keep on top of it. For us, using Cobiotex is the only way forward,” he added.

With limited grazing around the building, the family has identified that grazing cows outside at night is also a risk factor for environmental mastitis, as cows lie in the soiled fields – so this year they will not be doing that.

EnviroSystems managing director Liz Russell says Cobiotex also means potentially ‘irritating’ bedding additives, such as lime, can be cut, and mastitis/digital dermatitis treatments or antibiotic use are also reduced. Farmers also report less bedding and labour is needed, as the product is applied only once a week, unlike lime, which is daily.

Positive results can be seen in as little as three weeks when using Cobiotex and there are also no adverse health risks to humans, animals or the environment.

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