World Dairy Expo: “Your Milk Can Be More” helps producers improve milk production, quality
Zoetis helps producers know your herd's potential, inside and out
5 November 2024
3 minute read
By: Dr. Joel Franks, Dairy Technical Services Veterinarian with Zoetis, was recently interviewed by The Dairy Site’s Sarah Mikesell in Madison, Wisconsin, USA at World Dairy Expo.
Zoetis's latest campaign is “Your Milk Can Be More.” Let’s talk about how Zoetis is helping producers improve milk production and milk quality.
The “Your Milk Can Be More” campaign is built on different tenants. It is not just milk itself. It starts with the prediction using Clarified Plus genomic test. It isn't just predicting milk production and fat protein production; it's also predicting susceptibility for that cow to get mastitis which has a significant impact on milk quality. Not to mention the other health aspects that are part of what gets indexed in that genomic test to make a healthier cow. A healthier cow is going to make more milk so it's all about predicting the right cow.
It's also about preventing the infection from happening at all, and our dry cow portfolio hits all the tenants that are important in this dry cow period. We need to have dry cow therapy that is broad spectrum, and it is called Spectramast DC, covering more common-to-date bacteria that cause problems at dry off.
We also have an internal teat sealant called Orbeseal. It was launched in 2001 as an innovative product by Zoetis, and we also have our mastitis vaccine the E. coli J5 that we keep in our portfolio to prevent gram-negative infections.
Along with that, our tenant is to offer value-add services, and this is where the detection comes in. I, as a dairy technical service veterinarian, will get requests to visit a parlor and we collaborate with the milkers on proper milking procedures. Part of a proper milking procedure is properly detecting a cow coming down with mastitis.
So, we cover that aspect of the tenants of predict, prevent, detect and then we come to treatment because we can't control all the aspects up to that point. Treatment is important and we have a product that has a flexible label. We can use Spectramast LC for two days. We can use it for up to eight days. Consecutive day treatments, once a day, can have the same withholding allowing a producer to have a protocol that fits his profile of bacterial mastitis on the dairy. It might be a two-day protocol would work for him, it might be a five-day protocol needed for that facility, but that flexible label allows that. Our predict, prevent, detect and treat is really where we come in on “Your Milk Can Be More” in our portfolio products.
As a dairy veterinarian, in your opinion, what's the greatest opportunity for producers to achieve milk quality and production goals?
There's plenty of opportunities out there because a case of mastitis in the first 30 days off a recent study costs $444. Right away, we think about all lost milk or that's a treatment cost. Well, that's only a third of the price. The actual cost, two-thirds of it, is going to be the lost cow in early culls or deaths. The opportunity is to work with your herd veterinarian who knows your scenario and knows the bottlenecks on your facility to help alleviate that cost of $444 on a case of mastitis. Somatic cell count, regardless of whether it's a clinical mastitis case or not also has a big hit on production.
Again, collaborating with a herd veterinarian who can be looking at data if you have farm software that monitors your somatic cell count. Monthly tests will allow you to see trends and movements for your dairy allowing your herd veterinarian to help tailor treatment and prevention protocols, and even prediction.
Joel, knowing what pathogens are on your farm is especially important. Right?
Sarah, it is important that if you can profile what's in your dairy you can start to profile your protocols in prevention and treatment. It is simply good antibiotic stewardship to be able to do that.
How can dairy producers and veterinarians learn more about opportunities to improve or enhance their milk quality programs?
Reach out to your Zoetis representative. There is representative in each of our dairy areas that you can reach out to and gather more information on the portfolio products for Zoetis. The other opportunities we have can be found on the internet. So go to MilkCanBeMore.com and you're going to find more information on how to attain more milk on your facility.
| References | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Sarah Mikesell
Sarah Mikesell grew up on a five-generation family farming operation in Ohio, USA, where her family still farms. She feels extraordinarily lucky to get to do what she loves - write about livestock and crop agriculture. You can find her on LinkedIn.
