Tyddyn Cae Project Update - Final

Key results:

1. Bedding cleanliness and foot/leg contamination has reduced during the housing period following the changes to scraper routine
2. In comparison to the 2022-23 season, the mean Somatic Cell Count (SCC) was reduced by 22,000 cells/ml to 198,000 cells/ml during the housed period for the 2023-24 season following the environmental management changes.
3. SCC during the grazing season/later lactation period remains similar to performance prior to the changes and are higher than expected showing potential for further improvement.
4. Late lactation infections are likely associated with the teat health issues and would respond to the milking machine action points shared with the farm.

Potential cost benefits:

• Should the drop in SCC have moved the farm into a higher payment band for SCC, a premium of 0.25p/litre would have added an additional £66,300 to milk sales for the year.
• As SCC increases, milk yield is likely to fall (AHDB). Compared to the starting base-line of 224,000 cells/ml we can estimate the potential yield increase for the two periods following the interventions:
  • Oct 23 – Jan 24: +12,312 litres (for 380 cows over 120 days). x 50ppl= £6,156
  • Oct 24 – Jan 25: +15,276 litres (for 380 cows over 120 days). x 50ppl= £7,638

Background:

Being an Autumn block, Tyddyn Cae will always be prone to a rising cell count through the milking season as milk yields drop. However, previously the herd has also seen an early season (October-January) increase in SCC corresponding with the combination of bacterial challenge from the housing environment and increased cow factors due to peak yield and high bulling activity. Udder health and the milking process was an area Tyddyn Cae wished to focus on, to assess opportunity for efficiency gains and a possible reduction in antibiotic use.

Working with Tom Greenham of Advance Milking, risk areas for udder infections were identified and potential solutions to mitigate these risk factors discussed. Solutions were considered within a lean management framework. An action plan was developed through collaborative discussion with the whole farm team. Progress was monitored using lead and lag measures of both subjective and objective metrics.

Purpose of the work:

1. Evaluate udder health and current milking routine across the team and identify areas for improvement and application of lean management
2. Closely assess and improve milking efficiency metrics on the farm across the whole team
3. Reduce SCC and clinical mastitis cases on the farm

What we did:

• Initial one-day visit to audit udder health risk areas highlighted:
  • Bulk cell counts patterns and reported mastitis patterns suggested the main infection risk factors were environmental challenge combined with cow factors at oestrus.
  • Slurry builds up in passages due to low frequency of scraping was giving poor foot/leg cleanliness (Figure 1)

Figure 1: Low frequency of automatic scraping was allowing slurry to build up in the passage ways
 

• Feet/leg contamination was increasing bacterial challenge to the teats.
• Pre-milking teat preparation did not include disinfection, so relies on low bacterial levels.
  1. Dry wiping was leaving some teats dirty when the unit was attached.
  2.Shared paper towels were increasing risk for bacterial transfer from cow to cow.
• Teat end hyperkeratosis (Figure 2) was making teat cleaning more difficult and infection more likely and was detected on a higher number of cows than the target which is less than 10% of the herd in early lactation, and less than 20% at the end of the season.

Figure 2: Teat end hyperkeratosis

• Teat congestion (Figure 3) was a significant problem for cow comfort and resistance to infection.

Figure 3: Teat swelling and congestion were commonly observed, increasing risk of mastitis

• Overmilking (Figure 3) was a significant problem, increasing risk of teat end hyperkeratosis and congestion.
   

Figure 4: Biphasic milk flow highlighting long durations of overmilking

• Liner fit was poor for cows with smaller teats, increasing risk of oedema and congestion.
• There was a high incidence of biphasic milk let-down, due to attaching clusters in the opposite direction to wiping teat, this increases risk for teat end hyperkeratosis and congestion.

There are solutions to all the problems identified at the visit. Some solutions are relatively ‘low cost’ in terms of capital investment, ongoing financial input and labour. Others have a higher cost in one or more of these areas. These were feedback to Ifan and the team via a two-hour session for team knowledge transfer, discussion of findings, and planning of action points.

Potential future actions

• Increase flow rate triggering the automatic cluster removal by 200ml/min.

• Trial the Fullwood FL21 Liner -this will fit the current shell but may prove a better fit for cows with smaller teats.

Outcomes

The interventions that the team at Tyddyn Cae implemented were aimed at reducing the environmental challenge (increased frequency of passage scraping) and mitigating this challenge (altered pre-milking teat preparation routine during this high-risk time period). Monitoring of udder health data following adaption of the above action points highlighted:

1. Bedding cleanliness and foot/leg contamination has reduced during the housing period following the changes to scraper routine: “The beds stay cleaner so there is less muck on their udders,’’ says Ifan.
2. In comparison to the 2022-23 season, the mean Somatic Cell Count (SCC) was reduced by 22,000 cells/ml to 198,000 cells/ml during the housed period for the 2023-24 season. These improvements primarily come from lower herd SCC during the housed period. This suggests a positive response to the environmental management changes.
3. SCC during the grazing season/later lactation period remains similar to performance prior to the changes and are higher than expected showing potential for further improvement.
4. Late lactation infections are likely associated with the teat health issues and would respond to the milking machine action points shared with the farm.
5. The period of implementing these strategies (following the Advance Milking visit of Nov 2023) was associated with periods of reduced SCC and Bactoscan, Table 1.

Table 1: Tyddyn Cae’s SCC and Bactoscan results during the autumn calving herd’s most vulnerable period to issues