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Background Prophylactic measures are key components of dairy herd mastitis control programs, but some are only relevant in specific housing systems. To assess the association between management practices and mastitis incidence, data collected in 2011 by a survey among 979 randomly selected Swiss dairy farms, and information from the regular test day recordings from 680 of these farms was analyzed. Results The median incidence of farmer-reported clinical mastitis (ICM) was 11.6 (mean 14.7) cases per 100 cows per year. The median annual proportion of milk samples with a composite somatic cell count (PSCC) above 200,000 cells/ml was 16.1 (mean 17.3) %. A multivariable negative binomial regression model was fitted for each of the mastitis indicators for farms with tie-stall and free-stall housing systems separately to study the effect of other (than housing system) management practices on the ICM and PSCC events (above 200,000 cells/ml). The results differed substantially by housing system and outcome. In tie-stall systems, clinical mastitis incidence was mainly affected by region (mountainous production zone; incidence rate ratio (IRR) = 0.73), the dairy herd replacement system (1.27) and farmers age (0.81). The proportion of high SCC was mainly associated with dry cow udder controls (IRR = 0.67), clean bedding material at calving (IRR = 1.72), using total merit values to select bulls (IRR = 1.57) and body condition scoring (IRR = 0.74). In free-stall systems, the IRR for clinical mastitis was mainly associated with stall climate / temperature (IRR = 1.65), comfort mats as resting surface (IRR = 0.75) and when no feed analysis was carried out (IRR = 1.18). The proportion of high SSC was only associated with hand and arm cleaning after calving (IRR = 0.81) and beef producing value to select bulls (IRR = 0.66). Conclusions There were substantial differences in identified risk factors in the four models. Some of the factors were in agreement with the reported literature while others were not. This highlights the multifactorial nature of the disease and the differences in the risks for both mastitis manifestations. Attempting to understand these multifactorial associations for mastitis within larger management groups continues to play an important role in mastitis control programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding farmers' mindsets is important to improve antimicrobial stewardship in the dairy industry. This cross-sectional study aimed to determine farmers' knowledge, attitude, and practices with respect to lactational intramammary antimicrobial use (AMU) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Swiss dairy herds. Based on their approach towards subclinical mastitis (SCM) and non-severe cases of clinical mastitis (CM), subgroups of farmers were identified and compared regarding their knowledge, attitude and practices towards AMU and AMR. After conducting qualitative interviews to develop a questionnaire, an online survey was sent to 1296 randomly selected Swiss dairy farmers. Information was gathered on demographic data and farmers' knowledge, attitude, and practices towards AMU and AMR. A latent class analysis was performed to identify subgroups of farmers based on management of SCM and non-severe CM cases. Based on the results of 542 completed questionnaires, poor knowledge with respect to AMU and AMR was identified, as well as discrepancies between farmers' perceptions and their actual practices. Farmers approached cows with SCM and non-severe CM similarly, indicating they perceived both mastitis states as the same disease. Intramammary antimicrobial products containing cefquinome, which is a highest priority critically important antimicrobial, were among the 3 most commonly applied intramammary antimicrobials. Five latent classes of farmers were identified based on their management towards SCM and non-severe CM. One group of farmers (18.5% of respondents) indicated that they did not treat those mastitis cases, one group only treated SCM cases (13.8% of respondents), one group only treated non-severe CM cases (28.6% of respondents) and the largest group treated both mastitis states (39.1% of respondents). The latter group was subdivided into a latent class of farmers following guidelines for AMU/AMR (25.5% of respondents) and a group of farmers that were not strictly following these guidelines (13.7% of respondents). Regional differences between farmers, according to altitude and language region, explained some of the variation in latent class membership. Latent class membership was associated with farmers' attitude to use antimicrobials as little as possible and with using antimicrobials only after performing bacteriological and susceptibility testing. This study gave detailed insight into Swiss farmers' knowledge, attitude, and practices regarding AMU and AMR and provides opportunities to improve antimicrobial stewardship in Swiss dairy herds. The identified groups of farmers, based on their management practices regarding SCM and non-severe CM, may help to design tailored intervention strategies for improving prudent AMU in the heterogeneous population of dairy farmers in Switzerland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A dataset of test-day records, fertility traits, and one health trait including 1275 Brown Swiss cows kept in 46 small-scale organic farms was used to infer relationships among these traits based on recursive Gaussian-threshold models. Test-day records included milk yield (MY), protein percentage (PROT-%), fat percentage (FAT-%), somatic cell score (SCS), the ratio of FAT-% to PROT-% (FPR), lactose percentage (LAC-%), and milk urea nitrogen (MUN). Female fertility traits were defined as the interval from calving to first insemination (CTFS) and success of a first insemination (SFI), and the health trait was clinical mastitis (CM). First, a tri-trait model was used which postulated the recursive effect of a test-day observation in the early period of lactation on liability to CM (LCM), and further the recursive effect of LCM on the following test-day observation. For CM and female fertility traits, a bi-trait recursive Gaussian-threshold model was employed to estimate the effects from CM to CTFS and from CM on SFI. The recursive effects from CTFS and SFI onto CM were not relevant, because CM was recorded prior to the measurements for CTFS and SFI. Results show that the posterior heritability for LCM was 0.05, and for all other traits, heritability estimates were in reasonable ranges, each with a small posterior SD. Lowest heritability estimates were obtained for female reproduction traits, i.e. h(2)=0.02 for SFI, and h(2)≈0 for CTFS. Posterior estimates of genetic correlations between LCM and production traits (MY and MUN), and between LCM and somatic cell score (SCS), were large and positive (0.56-0.68). Results confirm the genetic antagonism between MY and LCM, and the suitability of SCS as an indicator trait for CM. Structural equation coefficients describe the impact of one trait on a second trait on the phenotypic pathway. Higher values for FAT-% and FPR were associated with a higher LCM. The rate of change in FAT-% and in FPR in the ongoing lactation with respect to the previous LCM was close to zero. Estimated recursive effects between SCS and CM were positive, implying strong phenotypic impacts between both traits. Structural equation coefficients explained a detrimental impact of CM on female fertility traits CTFS and SFI. The cow-specific CM treatment had no significant impact on performance traits in the ongoing lactation. For most treatments, beta-lactam-antibiotics were used, but test-day SCS and production traits after the beta-lactam-treatment were comparable to those after other antibiotic as well as homeopathic treatments., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)