Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Alternative approaches to reduce antibiotic use on dairy farms are needed to address industry and consumer concerns. Blanket dry cow therap, or intramammary infusion of high concentration and long-lasting antibiotics into every quarter to prevent intramammary infection at milking cessation, accounts for a large portion of the antibiotic usage on dairy farms. Thus, practices that reduce intramammary infection and simultaneously decrease antibiotic usage are critically needed. Our overall objectives are to 1) determine the effect of alterative dry-off management practices on stress, inflammation, immunity, and intramammary infection occurrence of dairy cows in order to replace blanket dry cow therapy on dairy herds, and 2) develop an Extension program to share the current knowledge in mastitis control, judicious antibiotic usage and research findings with dairy producers, veterinarians, and industry practitioners. We hypothesize that less frequent milking and administrating dry cow vaccines prior to dry-off will minimize stress and inflammation, improve immunity and prevent intramammary infection, and prove viable alternatives for blanket dry cow therapy. We will perform two applied research projects in multiple dairy farms to test our hypothesis, and build a robust Extension program focusing on educating dairy producers, veterinarians, and industry practitioners for judicious antibiotic usage by adopting management practices that improve mammary health with less reliance on antibiotics. These integrated efforts will eventually improve not only the health and welfare of dairy cattle, but also profitability of dairy producers and sustainability of dairy farms.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
30%
Applied
70%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Our long-term goal is to use practical and scientifically tested approaches to improve production and health of dairy cattle, thereby reducing the usage of antibiotics. Our overall objectives are to 1) determine the effect of alterative dry-off management practices on stress, inflammation, immunity, and IMI occurrence of dairy cows in order to replace BDCT on dairy herds, and 2) develop an Extension program to share current knowledge in mastitis control, judicious antibiotic usage and research findings with dairy producers, veterinarians and industry practitioners.
Project Methods
In the extension projects, we will develop an initial survey to collect data on current industry practices related to dry-off protocol, antibiotic usage and the attitudes and comfort with antibiotic usage and alternative dry-off protocols of the producers. The survey will be synthesized using the Qualtrics XM online platform and data will be analyzed utilizing SPSS. We will distribute this survey in year 1. Through this survey, we will fully understand management practices of all facets across our diverse dairy industry in Georgia and allow for development of programs tailored to the needs of specific producers or producer groups.Based on the initial survey, we will develop a follow up extension program to incorporate educational programs on best-management practices related to antibiotic use and dry-off protocols into our current Extension programming efforts which ultimately results in changes in management practices and reduction in antibiotic usage on GA dairy operations. We will utilize multiple channels to develop Extension media. Workshops and farm field days will be hosted to discuss current, relevant management practices as well as share the findings from research trials. Video recording of these events or similar content will be adapted to create informative videos to be posted through departmental and industry media outlets. We will publish additional Extension bulletins regarding milk quality, mastitis, antibiotic resistance, judicious antibiotic usage, outcomes obtained from producer survey, and results from research trials of this proposal. These Extension bulletins are available through UGA Extension system to reach and educate county agents. Written publication will also be produced for inclusion in the DairyFax newsletter managed by our Extension team. The outcomes from this project will also be summarized and submitted to magazines to obtain a broader impact nationally and internationally.Upon delivery of educational programs and materials, the follow-up survey will be given at the end of year 3 to evaluate whether participants implemented practices according to the information provided through Extension media and to collect farm productivity data to quantitively evaluate impact of programmatic efforts. Data from our surveys could be shared to the Journal of Extension as a Research in Brief publication. This would also allow for us to share our survey development and program evaluation procedures and create a model for Extension programs across the country to utilize.In the research project, we will conduct two experiments to identify the effects of different dry cow vaccination schedules (prior to vs. on the day of dry-off), and milking frequency in the late lactation on inflammation, immunity, and incidence of IMI of dairy cows compared with blanket dry cow therapy (BDCT) and selective dry cow therapy (SDCT).These studies will be conducted in three commercial dairy farms located in Georgia with good mammary health record. We will collect milk yield data, diseases including clinical mastitis, reproductive parameters, and culling. For each cow, the usage of antibiotics administered at dry-off, and for treating mastitis in the subsequent lactation will be recorded. The total usage for each antibiotic will be calculated according to the number of tubes used and the amount of antibiotic per tube. The total usage of each antibiotic will be compared between treatments. Blood samples will be drawn from a subset of cows to measure stress and inflammation markers. An immune function assay will also be performed. We will identify acquisition of mammary infection by examining the bacterial profile in milk prior to treatment before dry-off and after calving.We expect to observe that administering vaccines earlier and reduced milking frequency in late lactation will improve immune functions of cows in the early dry period, maintain a similar or lower incidence of IMI compared with those received dry cow vaccines and BDCT/SDCT, but the amount of antibiotics will be lower than cows with BDCT. Upon completion of these projects, we will provide feasible and scientifically proven management strategies to reduce antibiotic usage at milking cessation without negative impacts on intramammary infection occurrence.Research findings will also be presented at the Georgia Dairy Conference where over 500 dairy producers, industry personnel, veterinarians, and students are presented with current research practices and management techniques. Results from the producer survey and research trials will also be presented in the Annual Meetings of National Mastitis Council, and American Dairy Science Association. These results will also be published in well recognized peer-reviewed journals such as Journal of Dairy Science.