Your Dairy Cow Has Mastitis. Now What Should You Do?

One of the biggest concerns with keeping dairy cattle is what to do if your cow has mastitis. If you’re new to keeping a family cow, you probably have several concerns with how to proceed when this happens on your homestead. Let’s go through what you should know and what you should do when your cow has mastitis.

What Does It Mean if My Cow Has Mastitis?

Mastitis is an infection with inflammation of the mammary gland and tissue of the cow. Pain and swelling characterize it, along with decreased milk production, and it can lead to fatal infections in more severe cases.

Treatment can range from plant-based therapies to heavy antibiotics. Tissue damage in the udder may be minimal with no long term effects to loss of the infected portion of the udder.

Dairy cattle are more susceptible as they have a higher milk yield, but beef cows (and any other mammal) can get mastitis. When keeping dairy cows, it’s only a matter of time before you find an infected cow.

Mastitis Risk Factors

Risk factors to new infections of mastitis generally fall into two main categories: contagious and environmental. Keeping high standards in sanitation protocols of cows before and after milking is of utmost importance. Additionally, clean milking equipment should be the homesteader’s highest priority when working with dairy animals. General risk factors for mastitis include:

1. Pathogenic infection – usually bacterial from their own skin, could be from milker’s hands
2. Cow’s environment – usually bacterial, but could be yeast or fungal, from bedding, flies, or milking equipment
3. Fluid Transmission between cows and calves – sharing needles to treat the herd, calf saliva, bull to cow STD
4. Trauma to the udder – blunt force causing bruising or infection of lacerations of the teat/udder
5. A lengthy dry period – dormant mammary glands aren’t working to secrete fluid and it takes time for them to activate at calving
6. Genetics and immune response – some cows are naturally fragile and tend to have a hard time fighting infection with weakened immune response
7. Extremely high producers – high volume means more opportunity for festering infection
8. Older cows – have wider teat canals allowing pathogens to enter the udder and looser connective tissue in the udder creating more pockets for infection
9. Other disease – compromised immune systems make fighting mild infections difficult that later become severe infections
10. Transition Periods – at freshening, weaning calves, reducing daily milking, and drying off are the times of highest risk for mastitis
11. History – when a cow has mastitis history or high scc cows will be prone to subclinical infections. Scar tissue in the udder can create pockets for bacteria to grow as well.

Mastitis-Causing Pathogens 

I’ve made the joke several times, “I’ve never seen my cows make their beds neatly.” They lay in the dirt, the mud, and sometime a fresh cow pie. This gives pathogens an opportunity to enter the teat canal and reproduce in the udder causing infection.

The cow’s natural immune response is to send white blood cells and macrophages to attack the bacterial infection. Inflammation, fever, and clots are the result of such infections. The cow’s somatic cell count skyrockets in her milk as she attempts to purge the illness.

Contagious Pathogenic Causes

Different ways introduce contagious pathogens to the cow’s udder. Cows naturally carry some bacteria on their skin. Commonly found on healthy cows’ udder skin at any given time are different infectious agent strains. Those bacteria can reach inside of the teat through these possibilities:

• through milking equipment
• sharing calves
• skipping pre and post milking teat dips

Disinfect milking inflations between cows. We do this by dipping them in a diluted bleach solution for a minute, followed by a fresh water rinse. Further, thoroughly wash and sanitize all milking equipment after each use.

If you’re milking multiple cows with a machine, the cow with mastitis should go last.

Nursing calves that bounce between cows spread infection. The calves won’t become ill, but they will carry pathogens from one cow to the next. To minimize such spreading of disease, dairy farms remove calves from the cows soon after birth. This isn’t feasible to a homesteader with multiple cows and calves, but you can make sure that calves are only nursing on their own moms. Separate any cow/calf pairs that are causing a problem as soon as possible.

Cows’ teats have a sphincter muscle at the end of the canal opening. The muscle is designed to keep such harmful pathogens out of the teat, and it remains closed when the cow is not being milked. Before beginning to milk, disinfect the teat with clorhexadine, iodine, or peroxide. Additionally, the muscle stays open for about 20 minutes after milking, so you should use a post teat dip as a preventative as well.

Environmental Pathogenic Causes

These nasty pathogens are just lying in wait for the opportunity to infect the next unsuspecting host. These slightly more preventable causes are:

• milking equipment that wasn’t disinfected properly
• unclean bedding or housing
• fly bite transmission

Again, using a disinfectant that kills all germs on milking equipment is necessary after every single milking. Antibacterial soaps, chlorine bleach, and acid wash are necessary for regular maintenance of all dairy equipment.

Barn-kept cows need regular changing of bedding. Sand and fine wood chips are easy to scrape out and replace. Clean or spread manure in high-traffic spaces when keeping cows on fields. Around feeding troughs and water reservoirs, or where your cows like to congregate should be cleaned as best as possible.

Flies are just a way of life here in the South with livestock. They can spread serious disease and often like to bite the teat ends of cows. We manage the best we can through killing baits, repelling sprays, and free range poultry. If using a spray on your dairy cow, make sure to use one that is dairy safe and doesn’t affect milk quality.

It’s important to remind you that even the cleanest of homestead dairies will eventually find a cow has mastitis. A full guarantee of a mastitis-free dairy does not exist.

Symptoms of Clinical Mastitis

Okay, now that you know what mastitis is, here’s how you can spot it. Symptoms vary from mild to fatal, and onset may seem to trickle in or be aggressively fast. 

The first sign that you might notice if a cow has mastitis is some mild swelling of one quarter of the udder. You may not even see swelling because your cow’s udder is already engorged, but she offers a kick when you reach to milk her. If that is unusual behavior for your milk cow, then that should be a red flag to you. 

Sometimes, you might notice that her milk tastes slightly “off.” The most common complaint is that milk tastes salty, which would almost always indicate that a cow has mastitis.

Another sign that your cow has mastitis is that you notice a small clot or two when you filter your cow’s milk. This could range from tiny flakes to larger clots or strings.

Not only swelling, but a hot, red, or firm udder would all be indicative of mastitis.

Her behavior matters. She may seem depressed and exclude herself from the herd. Anything unusual is something to tuck into your brain as possible puzzle piece.

In severe cases, your cow may have fever, loss of appetite, and lethargy. In the worst cases of mastitis, serous fluid will accumulate in the udder that isn’t milk. Clear, brown, or bloody liquid coming out of the udder is toxic mastitis and must be addressed immediately with heavy antibiotics.

Treatment Options When a Cow Has Mastitis

When your cow has mastitis, you have several options for treatment. You can choose a combination of:

1. systemic injections
2. intramammary infusions
3. topical rubs
4. oral supplements
5. plant-based / herbal remedies
6. additional supporting medicines that address side effects

Antibiotic Treatment When a Cow Has Mastitis

First and foremost, get the milk cultured if you suspect your cow has mastitis. Contact your livestock veterinarian and ask if they can culture a milk sample for you. Many traveling vets are not set up to culture samples, but they can suggest a laboratory. If you’re at all able, use a local lab for the fastest results.

I also understand that a fast culture is not always feasible, (it’s not for me). In that case, consult your veterinarian explaining all of your cow’s symptoms. He/she may need to come to your homestead to assess the cow before prescribing appropriate antibiotics.

If you don’t know exactly what bacterium you’re dealing with, you don’t know which antibiotic therapy to use. In such cases, you’re guessing. This really is a game of chance at this point. Maybe whatever medicine you choose will work, but maybe you’ll need to switch directions and try something else.

​WARNING: Antibiotics, and some other supplemental medicines mentioned, may require withdrawal time before using the milk or meat of the animal.

Intramammary Infusion When a Cow Has Mastitis

Insert single-use tubes of medicines containing antibiotics into the teat opening, and infuse them directly into the udder. These tubes contain a carrier oil and usually one of the following: amoxicillin, penicillin, or cephalosporin, plus some inactive ingredients. 

In most cases, administer just two doses into the quarter of the affected udder to combat the mastitis. Use these medicines in all four quarters. This way, you prevent cross-infection during milking/nursing.

Today and Spectramast are some name brands of antibiotics that are used directly in the teat. These have different active ingredients, which will treat different strains of bacteria. Again, the milk sample culture is important to know which one to choose.

Injections When a Cow Has Mastitis

Use injectable antibiotics for severe cases of infection. They work systemically alongside the intramammary infusions when a cow has mastitis to recover faster. Again, which antibiotic you choose will depend on which bacterial strain your cow with mastitis is dealing with. The most commonly used are:

• Penicillin with procaine (Pen G) 
• Ceftiofur Crystalline Free Acid (Label Name Excede)
• Oxytetracycline (Label Name Duramyacin or LA-200)
• Tulathromycin (Label Name Draxxin)

NSAIDs and More When a Cow Has Mastitis

NSAIDs can be used to help support your cow through severe cases when a cow has mastitis. They are often prescribed to reduce pain, fever, and swelling. Additionally, your cow may need a specific NSAID, Banamine (flunixin meglumine) to help her purge her system of bacterial endotoxins that can poison her to the point of shock. Other helpful medicines to have on hand when your cow has mastitis may include:

• Meloxicam for pain management
• Oxytocin can help trigger your cow’s let-down reflex so that she completely milks out, relieving her of any congestion in the udder. (Use this one sparingly and carefully as cows can become dependent on the use of hormones for letting down their milk.)
• Dexmethasone (dex) will help her purge her udder of any accumulated leukocytes and infectious clots. Taper off this medicine. Our vet recommends 10mL the first day by Intramuscular injection, followed by two days of 5 mL each. Dex may cause spontaneous miscarriage in cows that are over 90 days bred.
• Vitamin B Complex can help stimulate her appetite in the cases that are accompanied by anorexia.
• Calcium and Cal-Mag paste to treat secondary hypocalcemia that can happen in conjunction with e. coli mastitis.
• Baking Soda for acidosis in the rumen.

All Natural Approach When a Cow Has Mastitis

​I’ve never seen a severe case of mastitis that was completely healed with all natural alternatives to antibiotics. However, we’ve been able to use some herbal supplements along with low dose antibiotics in some mild cases.

Yellow Jacket is a popular herbal antimicrobial supplement to use when a homestead cow has mastitis. The ingredients include all natural support such as echinacea and turmeric. The instructions state to use topically for a week, but several cow owners are using it as a teat infusion (use at your own risk this way). I hesitate to introduce something nonsterile into the udder of a cow with an already-weakened immune system.

Mastoblast is another homeopathic remedy for a cow with mastitis infection. Clinical trials have proven that a few doses reduce SCC counts in cows. You can easily add a small amount to your cow’s feed, or just use a syringe to get it right in her mouth. 

Dynamint or other udder mint balms will help your cow reduce edema and swelling associated with mastitis.

​Add Vitamins C and E to her feed to help fight edema and support her immune system. We generally purchase capsules sold for human consumption and dose our cows according to the label instructions. If a 150 pound person can take 2 Vitamin C tablets, then I’ll give my 1000 cow 6 or 7 tablets per day. I just toss them right into their daily ration of grain.

Please take illness seriously when a cow has mastitis. If homeopathic therapeutics don’t improve her condition in the first 24 hours, consider adding conventional antibiotics.

Subclinical Mastitis

The most obvious symptom of subclinical cases is chronic mastitis in the same cow, particularly within the same lactation. Get a Somatic Cell Count (SCC) if you suspect a cow has mastitis. This is a count of the white blood cells (mostly) that the cow has per milliliter of her milk. The cow sends white blood cells to fight the infection, and secretes them into the milk.

Milk with an abnormally higher SCC would indicate a likelihood that the cow has mastitis even if there are no other signs or symptoms. Such cows will usually have a reduced milk yield, may go off feed, and could seem withdrawn or depressed.

The best treatment of subclinical mastitis is to immediately treat the flaring infection until there are no clots in the milk and then dry the cow off. A subclinical case can usually be healed so that the cow’s next freshening is clean. There are exceptions to this healing practice such as with staphylococcus aureus bacterium.

Consequences After A Cow Has Mastitis

The results of a mild case when a cow has mastitis could be minimal. A temporary reduction in milk supply will quickly pass. Use of antibiotics and steroids will require a short term of milk withdraw, a minor expense to the homesteader milking a cow.

However, more severe cases will cause prolonged use of medicines and milk withdraw and veterinarian expenses. Moreover, tissue damage in the udder can become permanent scarring causing future problems for your milk cow. Non working quarters or partial mastectomies are not unheard of.

In the most severe cases, toxic mastitis will cause death in a dairy cow.

In the dairy industry, this could be a significant loss of revenue to dairy farmers. 

Prevention

​First, clean milking equipment and a sanitary environment for the cow are the most important factors in preventing mastitis. Using disinfectants, discarding used needles, and not allowing calves to share nursing mothers will help you keep your dairy cows from developing mastitis.

Secondly, disinfecting the cow’s teat ends before opening the teat to milk is helpful in prevention. Equally helpful, using a post-milking dip on the teats will keep harmful bacteria from entering the teat canal until that sphincter muscles closes.

Foremilking

Foremilking, the first 5 to 10 squirts of milk from each teat, will give you a visual of what’s just inside of the quarter. It’s advised to squirt the foremilk into a strainer so that you can see any possible flakes or clots that might be in the milk. If a cow has mastitis, you’ll usually see it quickly.

Regularly Checking the Udder

It’s important to become familiar with your cow. Having your hands on her udder daily will give you the chance to understand what is normal vs abnormal for your cow. You’ll know quickly if your cow has mastitis just by knowing your cow.

Dry Cow Therapy

​Dry cows may be treated with a blanket preventative mammary infusion to kill any possible subclinical infection and then prevent further infection. These infusions contain antibiotics in carrier oils that are designed to last in the udder for eight weeks, the most common dry period time between lactations. Some popular name brand dry cow therapies are Tomorrow, Quartermaster, and Spectramast DC.

Vaccines

There are a handful of vaccines available to help prevent certain mastitis infections in dairy herds. Here are some vaccines to ask your veterinarian about:

1. J-vac: works against coliform mastitis
2. Lysigin: works against Staphylococcus aureus
3. Enviracor J-5: works against coliform mastitis
4. Endovac: works against multiple strains of salmonella, coliform, and pasteurella infections. It also boosts the cow’s natural immunity with antibody production.

Some of these vaccines are only effective to 50% and are costly. Additionally, milk production may decrease with administration of vaccines in your milk cow. There seems to be very little study on the shedding of these vaccines in the cow’s milk, so use them at your own risk. At the very least, consider a conversation with your veterinarian if your cow has mastitis.

Actual Testimony

We’ve successfully dealt with mild cases of mastitis in the past, and we’ve lost a really good cow to toxic mastitis at freshening.

​As we’re dealing with an actual case of subclinical mastitis in one of our milk cows, I thought I’d share what has happened, what we’ve learned, and how we plan to proceed from here.

Background

We recently purchased a young cow that is 3/4 jersey and 1/4 holstein. The jersey blood brings fragility and the holstein genetics bring volume in production. She’s seemingly healthy with few problems at all and comes out of some highly-desired parentage.

She’d recently begun her second lactation at which time she freshened with mastitis. Cultures were not performed, but strong antibiotics were administered, and she recovered rather quickly from the illness.

She was being milked twice a day for total production of six gallons of milk daily. She refused to feed her calf so all milking was done by her owners. The quarter that had mastitis was slow, not producing much at all.

All in all, she’s an excellent cow that we were excited to add to our small dairy herd. We had high expectations for her to produce for a long time on our farm.

At Our Farm

We got her to our farm and continued twice a day milking for a few weeks. We ran the CMT test which was clean, and chose to reduce her milking down to once a day. To do this, we first milked every 18 hours for a couple of milkings before moving on to 24 hours to help her reduce overall volume and adjust to the new routine.

We continued to get clean CMT tests for the next week, at which time we stopped testing because we had no reason to believe that the cow has mastitis. At the end of the second day that we didn’t test (11 days after twice a day milking), I noticed one slightly puffy quarter on her udder. I decided that we should retest her the following morning. By the next morning, however, she was in full blown mastitis infection.

We Didn’t Culture

There isn’t a proper laboratory nearby to give us an accurate diagnosis as to what mastitis strain we’re dealing with. We can ship samples to our state lab several hours away, but it takes days to receive test results. We didn’t have that kind of time.

After consulting with our very experienced dairy vet, he prescribed some Today intramammary tubes for us to pickup at a regional vet supply store. He also suggested 9mL of Pen G per day by intramuscular injection. We did both.

After two days, we saw no change in her health, and we spoke with our vet again. He suggested we increase the Pen G dosage to 12mL, twice a day. He added 10 mL of Banamine as needed. Last, he told us to give her 10mL of Dexamethasone (dex) right away and follow up with the next two days of 5mL each. We saw significant improvement by the next day.

The Dex Wore Off

​The dexamethasone seemed to be helping her more than the antibiotics. As soon as it wore off, she would flare with infection. Her udder would become considerably swollen, and we’d get more clots in the milk. Worse, it was more than just clots. It was serous fluid and puss coming out of the quarter with very little milk. 

The vet came and saw her to assess her himself. He suggested that we increase the Pen G to 20mL twice a day, and we should give her the dex again, tapering off as we had previously done. Again, every time the dex wore off, she flared again.

After 10 days of riding the emotional rollercoaster of watching her swing between healing and crashing, we began researching more on our own. Through this, we tried unconventional things like adding Pen G to the intramammary tubes of medicines so that we could get it directly to the source of the infection.

Putting the Puzzle Pieces Together

​We feel that she probably had e. coli mastitis or some form of coliform mastitis. Since we didn’t have a culture, we were of course guessing, but all symptoms seemed to point in that direction. I asked our vet for a new prescription, to switch antibiotics to the very expensive Draxxin.

Draxxin is supposed to be a one shot wonder. She had a dose on a Thursday evening, and by Friday morning, her udder swelling was reduced the most we had seen through this so far. We were elated, believing we were finally on the road to permanent recovery.

I spoke with the folks that I bought her from that day as well. They randomly messaged to ask how she was doing, how was she adjusting? I asked more questions about the mastitis she had when freshened, and I learned that she was treated for probable coliform mastitis infection. That added up to what I was thinking, so now we know we’re dealing with a probable subclinical infection.

I was hoping the Draxxin would kick in and handle the flare up. I also continued the dex, banamine, and new intramammary infusions. We also kept stripping her quarter out several times per day.

She Crashed

That night, I administered a second dose of Draxxin in hopes of kicking this infection for good.

She crashed. She laid down and couldn’t get up. I learned that endotoxemia poisons and shocks the cow’s system as the bacteria die off. We supported her through the crash with Cal-Mag paste, Pro-Bios, banamine injection, and dexamethasone. She did get up that night, thankfully, but she was very unsteady on her feet for a while with muscles twitching.

For the next couple of days, I researched more to discover that Draxxin was probably not the the right antibiotic, but we should’ve asked for Excede. 

Switching Gears

I met the seller of the cow three days after the second dose of Draxxin. They still had just enough Excede to give her two injections, the regular protocol for coliform mastitis. Additionally, I added 1mL to a tube of Spectramast for each quarter.

We are so very grateful that they had this on hand were willing to travel and share it with us. 

It has now been 7 days after her first shot of Excede, and 5 days after the second shot. We stopped the dexamethasone and the banamine. For the first time, we have more than a day of progress towards healing. 

She has been fever free with reduced swelling for three days in a row for the first time in a month.

Laminitis

​This beautiful cow came to us needing her feet trimmed pretty badly. She did sort of walk funny, and jerseys are known to have long toes, but I didn’t comprehend the severity of it. I noticed a limp one morning, and as we tried to assess her hoof, we heard cracking. The hoof trimmer came that day, and said her hoof was not cracked, but she did have a mild case of laminitis in all four feet.

Laminitis is the inflammation of the laminae in the hooves and can be caused by several different factors. Acidosis (in the rumen) is the most common cause of laminitis for cows.

The hoof trimmer asked if she’d been sick or off feed lately. I explained her situation, and we concurred that her recent illness absolutely caused this for her. Her gut chemistry became imbalanced with illness and medications.

Incidentally, laminitis coincides with e.coli mastitis.

What’s Next?

​The Excede is a slow-release antibiotic that is still working systemically in her. We’re continuing to strip out all quarters twice a day until we see no puss coming from the affected quarter. We will also continue to administer Spectramast LC in the quarter every 24 hours until the quarter is clean.

Once healed, we’re planning to dry off the cow to fully resolve the subclinical mastitis. We will use a dry cow treatment of Spectramast DC and then a sealant at the teat end of each quarter. We’ll pay close attention to her udder, her demeanor, and her temperature as she transitions into dry cow life.

We suspect that this cow is short bred, but we’ll follow up with a blood test to check pregnancy status. If she’s open, we’ll have her bred to freshen next year. We’ll be prepared with all possibilities of mastitis treatment at freshening by having all possible medicines on hand.

Conclusion

We really hope that our experience can help you if you’re finding yourself in a situation where your dairy cow has mastitis. At the very least, I highly suggest that you consult with a veterinarian familiar with dairy cattle before ever needing him/her. Request prescriptions to keep in stock so that you have them when you need them.

Work to prevent mastitis infections in your cow through sanitary practices the best you can, but remember that mastitis is not “if” but “when.” Educating yourself through best practices of animal health now can help you avoid a prolonged illness for your cow with minimal long term effects.

Happy Homesteading!

​

Donna and her family have been homesteading for most of their 20+  years together in some shape or fashion. She currently lives on their 20 acre farm where they grow as much food as possible. What started as a just a few laying hens, has grown into large gardens, pastured poultry, pork, and lamb. They are continuously evolving their small farm to not suit their family’s needs, but also providing to their local community. Donna’s favorite part of the family farm is her self-built micro-dairy, where she gets to love on dairy cows while serving her local community. Milking, cheesemaking, and processing dairy have become the soul of their homestead and the center of their farm.