RE: Re: Somatic cell count / Mastitis milk

[Guest guest]

> >Reply-To: RawDairy >To: RawDairy >Subject: Re: Somatic cell count / Mastitis milk >Date: Tue, 06 Jul 2004 12:32:46 -0000 > > > > Hello, > > This has bothered me all day to the point I have to say >something. I > > want to first off state I most likely will offend someone and I am >sorry > > for that but I can't hold still. > >Hello Deborah, I am so glad you posted and not offended at all. I am >very concerned about this and being the director of this raw milk >buying group, I need to gather all of the opinions/inpformation >possible to make a decision. Our board of directors is meeting >tomorrow night and will be using the input of this group, in >addition to other input, to make a decision. > >I talked to the farmer last night and here are some clarifications. >The cows have no visible signs of mastitus. He only knows about it >because he brought in Cornell to test each cow to figure out why his >Somatic Cell count was higher than he would like it. He gets bonuses >from the milk company for counts under 300,000 with the biggest >bonuses coming when the counts come under 150,000. His count is now >400,000. It went up to 800,000 a few weeks back when the weather got >really hot here, which is when he called in Cornell. Sound pretty responsible to me.>

>He cannot use antibiotics because he is organic. He is pursuing >homeopathic treatments. He has a homeopathic vet in another state >that he consults with. He mentioned a whole list of natural things >he is doing to boost the immunity of the whole herd. I"d be interested in this!>

>He also gives natural supplements to prevent worms. I suppose she is doing fecals to determine if this is working or not. Some farmers, and I'm not saying that he is one of them, beleive that DE is a natural dewormer for animals. His milk tank >cools in 10 minutes. He does an acid wash after every milking. His >bacteria count is negligible, meaning no dirty equipment and no >contamination with manure. Sounds good

> >The problem with this particular form of mastitus is that it is >incurable. The only option is to sell the cows to a conventional >dairy, which he wants to do but can't afford to. Basically, the milk >company is his main source of income, so if he has to choose between >satifying the needs of his few raw milk customers, and making money >from the milk company (by far, his main source of income), the milk >company (ie - keeping the cows in the herd) wins. > >He said that every dairy probably has cows with this form of low >grade mastitus (staff areus) in some cows, and doesn't know it >(unless you make a policy of testing every cow which he intends to >do from now on)I believe he is right on here.. He believes that all raw milk drinkers are >consuming white blood cells from low grade mastitus now and then, >don't know it, and aren't harmed by it. That even with high SSC, >this milk is healthy for you and much better than the alternatives >of going without or consuming the pasturized stuff. I think he is right. He does not >believe it affects the taste and thinks the taste went "off" when he >put the cows on clover that had gone to seed. Could be !What they eat definatley affects the taste.

> >Having the SSC count go below 300 or even below 150 is no guarantee >that this form of mastitus is not present at some level. Right

>Soooo...again, my question for the experienced folks out there is, >what do you make of this? I think he is being very diligent in his approach to his milk status. No diaryman want to see high SCC and it does have a tendency to freak one out, just a little.. .. The fact that he has gotten to the root of things, tells me that he is acting very prudent in his approach. And I think he is probably correct in saying that peple have drank milk with higher SCC's with no ill effects. Higher SCC, but still within the acceptable range, and full blown bloody/pus filled mastitis are two different animals. Anyway, that's my $.02

> >Eliz > > > > > > > > >

[Guest guest]

> >Reply-To: RawDairy >To: RawDairy >Subject: Re: Somatic cell count / Mastitis milk >Date: Tue, 06 Jul 2004 17:14:20 -0000 > > > > > >Charlene, > >No puss or blood in the milk. >We each bring our own containers. We have ruled that out as a source >of contamination as virtually everyone complained about the taste >this time. >I will get back to you on his homeopathic treatments for infection >and worms. >I guess it is up to the pigs to decide if they want to consume the >milk that is dumped in their troth or not. I can say that the pork >from this farm is by far the tastiest I have ever had! > >You said in an earlier post that you would not drink this milk. Do >you still feel this way? Would you cancle the delivery, or let each >member of the group make their own decision about purchasing it

>(after giving them all of the details)? I would not drink the milk if the SCC's were higher than regulated and if there was definate evidence of mastitis in the milk. (remember, high scc can be caused by fluke things.. one day it is up and a week later it is normal ) Some animals just give a higher SCC. The numbers are there for a reason It sounds like the dairymanis being very up front with you about things, he doesn't appear to be hiding anything. If a milk taste is off and you don't like it, don't drink it! I doubt if I would.. I wouldn't drink anything that I didn't like the taste of. IT sort of sounds like the taste and the high SCC were a coincidence because he had the cows on a different pasture. IT may have just been a fluke that. It could be that the taste and the higher SCC were unrelated... just a thought. (especially if no one saw any visible indicators of mastitis) REally bad mastitis milk is yuck, and doesn't get better. If milk is nasty when it comes out of the animal, it is the animals fault, if it is nasty after it is in the refrigerator, it is the handler's fault.

Also, how was he transporting it to you? Everything here that gets milk put in it gets a sanitizing solution sprayed into it before the milk goes in. Every cap I have ever put on a milk jug also gets sprayed with a sanitizing solution. These are just other avenues for you to look at. You just have to be extremely careful with raw milk. All the animals here prior to milking get washed with a disinfectant, all the equipment get sprayed with sanitizer, every teat inflator gets sprayed after it has been used and before the next animal comes in to be milked. Even with all those measures, you can still get a high SCC.

My guess is, that he sold the milk, the milk was tested and he came up with a high SCC..so he called in the university to do indivdiual testing on the cows and was able to single out which ones were the culprets. So now he's taking the steps he needs to, to correct the situation. If his counts were too high, i've sure whomever he sold it to would not accept it.

charlene

> > > > > >

[Guest guest]

calves nurse on mastitic udders. BUT>>>

If you have a calf on the cow you are very much less likely to have a problem w/ mastitis for many reasons.

AND there are different levels of "mastitis" ranging from a pluggd ducts(cow lays on udder, and causes backup, yada yada) that can simply be fixed by milking more frequently. Dairies on 3x a day have less frequent mastitis for that reason.I like to run calves on mama in day, seperate at night, milk in morning. then any i miss the calves strip.

The bacteria coming from the infected quarter direct to stomach is generally destroyed in stomach of calf. Where you see bad situations is when that is milked on and the bacteria has plenty of time to multiply.

www.MajestyFarm.comNorth Garden, Virginia

Re: Somatic cell count / Mastitis milk>>> Any animal (dog, cat, goat etc.) who has mastitis even> their offspring won't drink out the contaminated side.>> This is not true for humans though. Women are encouraged to nurse > more often off the affected side. I know of any number of women with > this problem and none had trouble getting their babies to latch on and > nurse from that side. The babies appeared to be healthy. Wonder what > the difference is? Anybody have any ideas?> AmyPLEASE BE KIND AND TRIM YOUR POSTS WHEN REPLYING!Visit our Raw Dairy Files for a wealth of information!http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RawDairy/files/