Reduce mastitis and increase profit
The NCDEA offers a wide range of short courses in addition to full time programs in Certificate II, III, IV, Diploma and Advanced Diploma in Agriculture, including Cups on Cups off.
As the ability to control mastitis and achieve high quality milk affects the profitability of all dairy farms this course provides a great refresher for all people that milk cows and explains the measures that can be used to reduce mastitis.
The course covers topics including how and why infections occur, practical mastitis control, importance of teat disinfection and best practice in milk harvesting.
Travis, a recent attendee at a Cups on Cups off course says he really enjoyed the smaller class numbers so everyone got a chance to participate. Travis further went on to say that whilst he "has been milking cows for quite a number of years it provided a fantastic refresher on the basics that need to be followed consistently to have a lower cell count".
The evidence of how the course has affected this particular farm can be seen in the reduction of the cell count since a couple of team members from this farm attended the course. Whilst the cell count reduction can also be attributed to some cows being dried off, Kym the farm manager says the course has certainly assisted with team members ability to identify clinical cases much quicker.
Another participant, Gavin, believes that the section on teat disinfectant proved to be quite useful in his day to day practices. Once again Gavin has been milking cows for years but it was great to have the reminder of why he did the steps in teat disinfectant that he does.
This included making sure the right level of iodine was in the mixed up batch of teat disinfectant, the importance of the quality of water used and of course how to check that application was how it should be. The paper towel test demonstrated just how easily it was to fall back into the pattern of not covering every part of the teat that comes into contact with the milking machine with teat disinfectant.
Cups on Cups off courses are continuing to run across Victoria. To find out more information please contact the NCDEA on 1300 0 NCDEA (1300 0 62332).
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© 2010 NCDEA - an initiative of Dairy Australia & Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE
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Phone 1300 0 NCDEA (1300 0 62332)
