Minimizing our Mastitis Problem

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Is the Boer Goat Breed too "High Maintenance"?
(article)		 Breeders and associations leading us in the wrong direction - (article) Characteristics and their priorities -
(article)		 What are our main health problems causing high maintenance -
(article)		 New management techniques for a new focus -
(article)		 Defining what our "quality" animals really means -
 (June 14, 2007		 Reader Feedback

(feedback)
Mastitis can be a very high maintenance problem not only for treating the doe but you may end up bottle feeding many kids for an extended period of time. One of the potential problem areas many breeders like us may have that results in does getting mastitis is having your animals being around a common barn areas at night for protection rather than living our in a large pasture area. This is a situation we have had at our old and new farm and we will not be changing it.  In a true commercial environment, the animals are likely to live in a large pasture area and moved around to other pastures as needed. One of the key sources for a doe getting mastitis is laying is a dirty area. When animals are always coming back to the barn in the evening, you undoubtedly will have more feces and urine concentrated in a smaller area. It is easier for a doe to get mastitis in this type of an environment. This is the opportunity for better management of the situation to help minimize a doe getting mastitis.

We are trying to minimize mastitis in our herd by doing the following:

  • Keeping our barn cleaner. We changed the design of our barn at the new farm to allow our tractor to get in and help remove much of the manure faster than we could at our old farm.
  • There are vaccines available to help prevent cattle from contacting mastitis and we are going to try one of those vaccines this next kidding season.
  • Any open wounds around the teats or udder can allow the infection in and cause the mastitis. We will document does that have greater problems that others related to the nursing kids breaking the skin on the teats while nursing. This will aid in culling.