January 2024, Volume 47, No. 1

President’s Message

By Christina S. Petersson-Wolfe, National Mastitis Council President

Humbled, honored and grateful; these are words that first come to mind as my presidency comes to a close during this 63rd National Mastitis Council (NMC) Annual Meeting. I first heard of NMC as a young child. It was the only meeting my father (known to everyone else as Lenny) would attend every year when he worked at Cornell University and later IBA, Inc. I remember hearing the stories he would tell my mother about the meeting. He valued that it was not only a place for knowledge exchange, but a place to meet up with old friends, collaborators and colleagues. Now, fast forward to my first meeting as a graduate student under the guidance of Ken Leslie and David Kelton in February 2001. I quickly learned why my father made this meeting a priority each year. The 2001 NMC Annual Meeting was held in Reno, Nev., USA. It was here that not only did I begin to put faces with names that I had been reading in the literature (including the likes of Joe Hogan, who later became my PhD advisor), but I began to form long-lasting friendships with fellow graduate students who later have become colleagues and faculty members, who are now collaborators. As a first-year master’s student, I had no idea where my career was headed or the impact NMC would have on my life. As I sit here nearing the close of my presidency, I am humbled to have been elected to lead this international organization, honored to follow in the footsteps of the esteemed list of presidents before me and incredibly grateful for the opportunity to serve NMC in this capacity.

This global organization with about 1,000 members, representing more than 40 countries, is unique with a rich history spanning more than six decades. If you look back at some of the original proceedings, the talks focused on areas related to udder health, economics, epidemiology and effective mastitis control plans. Although we have gained vast knowledge in each of these key focus areas over the last 60 years, we still dedicate so much of our time to the continued advancement in these same pillars of milk quality. As our knowledge evolves, so do the challenges we face as an industry. Today’s key challenges include production costs as marked by inflation, volatile milk prices, supply change disruption, labor shortages and climate change, to mention a few. However, as an organization, we are committed to providing a forum for education and global exchange of information to allow for growth, resilience and sustainability of our industry.

Over the past year, the NMC Board, with the guidance of Corner Window Communications, has continued to develop strategies to best align the NMC for growth moving forward through a strategic plan. We have committees tasked in the key areas of governance, membership, annual and regional meetings, financial stability and awards/recognition/certification. The identified strategies for growth and sustainability will be communicated to the membership and implemented over the next few years.

Other notable accomplishments of 2023 include the translation of the Laboratory Handbook to Mandarin, as well as revisions of the 8-point NMC Recommended Mastitis Control Program and publication of the 5th edition of the Microbiologic Procedures for the Diagnosis of Bovine Udder Infection and Determination of Milk Quality. These tasks would not be possible without the involvement of NMC Committees.

Recognizing contributors across the world of mastitis and milk quality is also important to NMC. We offer a robust awards program.

National Dairy Quality Awards Program: In partnership with Hoard’s Dairyman, this program recognizes producers who are the very best in quality milk production. These farms are invited each year to participate in the NMC Annual Meeting and are recognized at the Business and Awards Luncheon.
The Award of Excellence for Contributions to Mastitis Prevention and Control: This program recognizes an active member each year who has made outstanding contributions to mastitis prevention and control. It is open to any member and past awardees have come from academia, allied industry and veterinary practice.
The NMC Scholars Program: Each year, NMC recognizes graduate students from around the globe and provides a travel scholarship so that they may join the annual meeting and present their research. This year’s NMC Scholars were featured in the September issue of Udder Topics. Look for their NMC Annual Meeting reflections in the March issue of Udder Topics.

Looking ahead, we have an exciting regional meeting planned for this summer. Please mark your calendars to meet us in Ghent, Belgium, Aug. 12-14. Sarne De Vliegher and Sofie Piepers are deep into the preparations for the 2nd NMC Regional Meeting hosted by the M-Team and Ghent University.

In closing, NMC has become, for me, what I remember my father saying it was to him when I was a child. This organization “fills our bucket” and I now fully understand why he prioritized this meeting each year. We are only as good as our members and our membership is what brings me back year after year. I would be remiss to conclude prior to thanking all the hands who have organized this year’s meeting. I am grateful for the teamwork on the board together with Corner Window Communications to create this year’s program.

Register for the NMC Annual Meeting in Dallas

Grab some “Boots on the Ground” experience by attending the 63rd National Mastitis Council (NMC) Annual Meeting, Jan. 29-Feb. 1, at the Dallas/Addison Marriott Quorum by the Galleria, Dallas, Texas, USA. This event will help the global dairy industry capitalize on available strategies to prevent, treat and control mastitis, enhance udder health and foster animal health and welfare.

“The 2024 NMC Annual Meeting revolves around the theme “Boots on the Ground – Making Milk Quality Happen,” stated Keith Engel, NMC Annual Meeting program chair and GEA business development manager – hygiene. “Milk quality starts on the farm and thus it’s important for NMC to provide understandable information and milk quality enhancement strategies that can be applied on many dairy farms around the world.”

To view the meeting agenda and/or to register, go to: http://meetings.nmconline.org. NMC is preparing for and executing a “hybrid meeting” – with in-person and virtual attendance options available. Register by Jan. 8, before the registration rate increases.

Also, book your hotel room by Jan. 8, at the Dallas/Addison Marriott Quorum by the Galleria. To book your room, within the NMC room block, go to: https://bit.ly/2024NMChotelreservation. The room rate increases on Jan. 9.

This year’s NMC Annual Meeting General Sessions feature:

Making Milk Quality Happen – Research and Putting that into Practice
Making Milk Quality Happen – Industry Experts
Making Milk Quality Happen – Dairy Producers
Making Quality Milk Available and Known

Short Course topics include:

Basics of Cleaning (CIP) a Milking System (full)
Why and How to Perform a Milking System Analysis
Staph. aureus is back?!?
Managing Milk Quality in Robotic Milking Systems (full)
Teat Health, Chemicals and Milk Quality: How Do the Pieces Fit Together? (full)
Milk Quality Metrics: The Physical Exam of the Dairy Operation
Managing Milk Quality Outside of the Parlor (full)
Should We Treat Her or Should We Eat Her? How to Make Economically Sound Mastitis Treatment Decisions (full)
Mastitis Prevention: Where are We at with Nutrition and Genomics?
Perform a Complete NMC Airflow Analysis (full)
How to Implement LEAN Thinking to Motivate Employees Using Parlor Data
Change Management: Basic Components of How to Embrace and Implement Change
Real World Milk Quality: A Case Study Based Approach Looking at Regional Differences
CIP/Slug Analysis of a Milking System
Cleaning and Wash Analysis on AMS systems
Smart Solutions for Dealing with Data from Smart Dairy Technologies

Some Short Courses are full (as noted), so don’t delay registering for the NMC Annual Meeting.

Other highlights of the upcoming meeting include a silent auction, which supports professional development efforts, and recognition of the National Dairy Quality Award winners, NMC Award of Excellence for Mastitis Prevention and Control recipient, and NMC Scholars.

NMC Makes Spanish Webinar Recording Public

With global outreach as one of its top priorities, National Mastitis Council posted its Dec. 6 Spanish webinar to the public. Typically, only NMC members can access webinar recordings.

This webinar featured Juan Quezada, Milk Source LLC’s director of training and development, Kaukauna, Wis., USA. His presentation addressed “Leaving a Leadership Legacy: Where Milk Quality Starts.”

During the webinar, Quezada shared that he is motivated by other people’s success. “I want to have a positive influence on others,” he stated. He discussed the importance of employee engagement and working together as a team. Ultimately, a culture of excellence empowers employees to execute best practices, such as proper milking procedures, and achieve sustainable results. Learn how to create, develop and maintain a culture of excellence.

Go to the NMC Homepage to view the recording. Feel free to share this NMC webinar recording with your Spanish-speaking colleagues and clients.

Judicious Antimicrobial Use: Help the Dairy Industry Do its Part

Antimicrobial resistance troubles the world as one of today’s most significant public health risks, explained Alejandro Ceballos-Marquez, Universidad de Caldas, Manizales, Caldas, Colombia, during the 2023 National Mastitis Council Annual Meeting. “Drug-resistant pathogens threaten the response of common infectious diseases with existing antibiotics,” he added.

In May 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) Assembly adopted a global action plan on antimicrobial resistance. Five objectives were defined. One objective – optimize the use of antimicrobial medicines in human and animal health – sheds light on the “One Health” approach, which fosters efforts to fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Ceballos-Marquez described the initiative as a holistic analysis of health problems and their solutions in humans, animals and the environment.

Due to previous misuse and overuse of antimicrobials and antibiotics, it’s prudent to ensure their responsible use, establish preventative actions for infectious diseases, develop new medicines and vaccines, improve current diagnostic tools and strengthen health systems to ensure a more appropriate use of and access to antimicrobials and antibiotics. Ceballos-Marquez discussed animal agriculture’s role, particularly dairy cow milk, in helping reach these goals.

Implement responsible practices

With mastitis most likely being the top reason for antibiotic use in dairy cattle, there’s great potential for reducing antibiotic use by following a variety of responsible practices. Why is this important? The more frequent use of antibiotics in the dairy industry likely leads to increased resistant pathogens and puts human health at risk through potential exposure to antibiotic residues.

“All the dairy industry actors are responsible for offering consumers the highest-quality products to preserve public health and avoid any potential issues related to antimicrobial resistance in food animals or human beings,” Ceballos-Marquez remarked. “Antibiotics are relevant for both animal welfare and food safety; therefore, their prudent use will help to continue using them for adequate disease management and control in animal farming.” He added, “Studies have demonstrated that post-harvest contamination of dairy products with resistant pathogens coming from humans may pose a greater risk than exposure to resistant organisms from animals.”

Ceballos-Marquez listed a few key take-home messages regarding prudent antibiotic use.

Determine the correct antibiotic to administer.
Give the antibiotic to the right cow.
Give the treatment at the right time.
Administer the right dose.
Follow the label’s duration of treatment.

To provide a little background, Ceballos-Marquez noted that the total use of antibiotics, calculated as animal daily dose (ADD), was 17.2 ADD per 1,000 animal-days, with 83 percent of total herd-level antimicrobial use (AMU) in adult cows. Seventy-eight percent were administered as intramammary (IMM) preparations.

Canadian studies found that the antimicrobial drug use rate was higher to treat mastitis than dry cow therapy. The most common antimicrobial drugs were cephalosporins, penicillin, penicillin combinations, tetracyclines and trimethoprim-sulfonamide combinations. The Saini et al., 2012 study indicated that β-lactams were the most used on Canadian dairy farms as compared to other drug classes.

After reviewing numerous studies devoted to evaluating antimicrobial use for mastitis, Ceballos-Marquez concluded that efforts toward prudent use of antimicrobials in food animals (or even reduced use in the dairy industry) must be focused on preventing and controlling mastitis, and on appropriate mastitis treatment. This will help maintain high-quality milk production and dairy farm sustainability, and help ensure public health.

When to treat

Where should we start? To decide if treatment is appropriate, detect, identify and classify mastitis. Often, mild and moderate cases resolve within a week. Train farm personnel in mastitis detection and classification. Knowing this will help determine if treatment is needed and what treatment protocols are needed.

“Only use antibiotic treatments against bacterial infections, using the appropriate product, according to the etiology,” Ceballos-Marquez stated. “Use narrow-spectrum drugs as the first choice.” He noted that third- and fourth-generation cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones and macrolides are prioritized for human health. “Therefore, reserve these drugs for mastitis cases where the efficacy of narrower-spectrum drugs is not expected.”

“Narrow-spectrum antibiotics are less critical for humans, which makes them more suitable for mastitis treatment,” Ceballos-Marquez explained. Most IMM preparations contain narrow-spectrum antibiotics, reserving broader-spectrum drugs for those cases where the etiology is known or narrow-spectrum drugs are not expected to be efficacious. Veterinarians should be involved in developing mastitis treatment protocols. Also, they should supervise any treatments that deviate from the treatment product’s label.

A variety of pathogens trigger mastitis; thus, recommended treatments vary. Some infections cure spontaneously, such as those caused by Gram-negative pathogens. Know the etiology and if antibiotics are appropriate. If you decide to treat mastitis, adhere to label instructions.

Is extended therapy warranted?

Ceballos-Marquez noted that there’s evidence that extended antibiotic therapy (ET) may increase the clinical and bacteriological cures. However, ET is not recommended for cases where bacteriological cure is not successful. However, consider ET for cows with high somatic cell count (SCC) associated with mastitis cases caused by streptococci.

“I recommend a longer duration of antibiotic treatment for treating mastitis that is caused by pathogens that penetrate the mammary tissue (e.g., Strep. uberis, Staph. aureus). For pathogens localized in superficial mucosa surfaces, treat according to label recommendations (e.g., some staphylococci or E. coli). Due to treatment cost and limited health improvement, it’s difficult to justify ET from an economic perspective.

“With prudent use of antibiotics as the goal, it’s important that we promote and help implement culture-based mastitis treatments,” said Ceballos-Marquez. “Only administer antibiotics for cases where a culture positive has been identified – mainly for Gram-positive pathogens. In the case of mastitis caused by Gram-negative pathogens or no microbial growth, dispose of milk until it returns to normal. Provide supportive therapy if needed.”

“Using antibiotics prudently for the treatment of mastitis will contribute to improving the well-being of cows and the sustainability of dairy farms, helping to mitigate any potential effect on public health,” concluded Ceballos-Marquez. “It is possible to maintain a low incidence of clinical cases of mastitis and low SCC with the prudent use of antibiotics under the ‘One Health’ approach.

To read the proceedings paper that Ceballos-Marquez prepared, log into the NMC Member Center. His proceedings paper lists the references.

Plan to Attend the 2024 NMC Regional Meeting in Belgium

Did you attend the 2014 National Mastitis Council (NMC) Regional Meeting in Belgium. It was one to remember!

A decade later, Belgium invites NMC back for the 2024 Regional Meeting in Ghent. The event will take place Aug. 12-14, in “De Bijloke,” a beautifully preserved 13th-century building on the edge of Ghent City Center.

Like 2014, the program will consist of scientific, technical and social portions. The scientific and technical programs will be a mix of keynote presentations, industry lunch forum, short courses and industry seminars.

The 2024 NMC Regional Meeting will offer ample opportunities for industry partners to reach veterinary practitioners, extension specialists, consultants, advisers, farm managers and researchers interested in udder health and milk quality from Europe and beyond, with several people attending from the United States and Canada. Prior to the NMC Regional Meeting, the Mastitis Research Workers will meet Aug. 8- 9, in Ghent.

Similar to the 2014 NMC Regional Meeting, there will be opportunities to sponsor special events, such as the Industry Lunch Forum. “This is an excellent way for companies to communicate their latest scientific, technical research or product developments to event participants,” said Sarne De Vliegher, past NMC president and Ghent University associate professor. Also, companies may organize a workshop with speakers and chairpersons of their choice, which is referred to as an Industry Seminar.

For more details about the event, venue, transportation and sponsorship and exhibitor opportunities, click here.