It’s always exciting to watch a group of replacement heifers develop and anticipate their performance in the milking string as the top genetics of your herd. There is just about nothing more devastating than freshening them in to find mastitis or even worse, a blind quarter. When a first calf heifer calves in with a high somatic cell count she is more likely to maintain the high count, and more likely to be culled.

Heifer mastitis, or intramammary infection (IMI), is a common affliction yet we know very little about what stage of production it occurs and how to best diagnosis the root of the problem.  Pamela Adkins, DVM at the University of Missouri worked with a team to capture culture samples from a variety of stages of heifer development to fabricate standard protocols for sample collection and help producers better understand how to circumvent this disease cycle for their herd.

Listen in to learn how to improve heifer development and limit the tragedy of damaged replacements.

Topics of discussion

1:51       Introduction of Dr. Pamela Adkins

Evaluation of intramammary infection status in dairy heifers using cisternal and teat end sampling techniques