It reduces infection rate

Post-milking teat disinfection, dipping or spraying, removes the bacteria that spread during milking and, as such, is an extremely effective weapon against the spread of contagious mastitis. Any skin lesion which is infected heals very slowly. https://www.nadis.org.uk/disease-a-z/cattle/mastitis/mastitis-part-7-teat-disinfection/

Apart from E. coli infections most persist if untreated until eventually there is spontaneous recovery or the cow is culled. This persistance of infection for weeks, months and years with staphylococcal infections is an important characteristic of mastitis which must be taken into account in devising a disease control. Because spontaneous recovery occurs infrequently and there is no proven way of increasing it the introduction of antibiotic therapy was a major advance in controlling bovine mastitis. Infusing antibiotics via the teat duct into the udder is a simple way of overcoming nearly all clinical mastitis and of eliminating many infections. Many antimicrobial drugs are used in formulating products for mastitis therapy (eg. penicillin including the semisynthetics, streptomycin, aureomycin). The effectiveness of the drug will depend partly on the sensitivity of the pathogen treated to the drug used and also to the way the drug is formulated. This influences the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of the drugs from the milk. No antimicrobial drug is ideal for all conditions and mixtures are used to be effective against a range of pathogens (ie. ‘broad spectrum’) for use in lactating and dry cows. Nearly all therapy is given without prior knowledge of the causative pathogen. Under these conditions treating quarters exhibiting clinical mastitis with basic standard products gives a bacteriological elimination of 75–90% of streptococcal and about 30% of staphylococcal infections. The cure rates of mycoplasma and pseudomonad infections are lower. If the treatments are given after the final milking of lactation (ie. dry cow therapy) using formulations designed for this purpose the cure rates are improved and are about 50% for staphylococcal infections. The rates of elimination of staphylococcal infections varies considerably between herds and are lower in cows with more than one infected quarter and those with more severe clinical mastitis.

Antibiotic therapy is usually given as infusions of solutions through the teat duct but this should be done only after careful cleaning of the teat orifice with a disinfectant swab. To avoid infusing contaminated antibiotic, use only factory made disposable syringes. A course of therapy is often 2 or 3 infusions at 24 hour intervals, rejecting the milk from the cow for 2 or more days after the last infusion to avoid antibiotic contamination of the bulk milk. Although nearly all cases of clinical mastitis respond quickly it may take several days before the milk becomes normal. Treatment, the choice of antibiotic and the milk reject time should be on veterinary advice and when there are severe persistent infections systemic administration of antibiotic may also be used to overcome the endotoxaemia.

Many infections are eliminated by culling cows and this can be increased by the sale of cows with persistant clinical mastitis. http://www.fao.org/3/t0218e/t0218e04.htm

The following routine will reduce the proportion of infected cows and clinical mastitis by at least 70% if used regularly at each milking. Mastitis caused by Str. agalactiae will be reduced to very low levels and is frequently eradicated. Adopt good cow management practices as the essential basis for a mastitis control routine (eg. feeding, housing, hygiene). Mastitis is unlikely to be controlled with neglected, underfed cows kept under stress in dirty conditions.

Reduce exposure to pathogens

Clean thoroughly all equipment used when milking (see page 29)

DO NOT HOUSE OR CORRAL CATTLE UNDER DIRTY CONDITIONS, preferably CHANGE ORGANIC BEDDING MATERIALS DAILY or use sand for bedding

Wash dirty udders before milking with clean running water preferably with the hand, a disposable paper towel or a disinfected cloth and dry thoroughly. Do not wash with contaminated cloths and water

DIP OR SPRAY ALL TEATS AFTER MILKING WITH DISINFECTANT TEAT DIP (eg. hypochlorite, iodophor, chlorhexidine)

Adopt practices that prevent the occurrence of teat lesions (sores, chaps and teat damage). If they occur use a teat dip or spray containing a emolient.

If practical milk clinically affected cows last

Additional benefits can be obtained by disinfecting hands before milking each cow, using individual paper udder cloths, dipping teat cups in disinfectant before each cow is milked, and ‘back flushing’. These reduce bacterial exposure but their effects are secondary to those described above

Reduce the chances of pathogens penetrating the teat duct by

avoiding teat injury or fly attack

using a milking machine that is correctly tested, and maintained

using a milking machine modified to prevent ‘reverse flow’ and ‘impacts’

minimise the effects of vacuum fluctuations by avoiding ‘linerslip’, fitting ‘shields’ or ‘non-return valves’ into short milk tubes or liners.

Reduce the duration of infections by

detecting clinical mastitis by examining foremilk or fitting ‘mastitis detectors’ into the long milk tubes

giving intramammary infusions of antibiotics under veterinary supervision to clinically affected cows and KEEP A RECORD

TREATING COWS AT DRYING OFF with infusions of antibiotics recommended by a veterinarian

CULL COWS WITH REPEATED CLINICAL MASTITIS.

Reduce mastitis in nonlactating growing cattle or cows in the dry period

Avoid using low lying grazing land and damp wooded areas where flies are common. Move cattle from pastures known to give problems with mastitis

Adopt good fly control measures

TREAT COWS AT DRYING OFF with antibiotics recommended by veterinarian. All co...

http://www.fao.org/3/t0218e/t0218e04.htm

Kindly check https://irishvetjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13620-018-0122-4

Watch udder before and after milking could be prevented mastitis

Both pre- and post-milking teat antisepsis are the most effective procedures for preventing new intramammary infections in dairy animals especially those caused by contagious pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae, Mycoplasma bovis, and Corynebacterium bovis. These procedures involve dipping/spraying teats before and after milking with an appropriate germicidal preparation to reduce teat skin colonization and contamination with mastitis-causing bacteria and minimize penetration into the teat canal.

Pre - and post milking teat antiseptics are mainly the effective procedure to prevent infection in cattle

Its not a good practice. Skin teat bacteria would gain acces to esphinter of the teat and can move into into the teat conduct. Bacterial species different to most frequent Microbiota in the skin udder have been adapted to this mictobiota and can be agents of new intramammary infections. Becsure anout the gold rule or principle of milking cows:

Milking Only clean dry healthy teats.

Pre - and post milking teat antiseptics are the most effective procedure to prevent mastitis infection in cows.

Using of antiseptic solution before and after milking reduce the infection rate but it can not completely prevented

Chinaza Godswill Awuchi thanks for your fruitful answer as.

Teat wash will reduce the proportion of infected cows and clinical mastitis by at least 70% if used regularly at each milking.

The main point of the Irish Study

The routine application of pre-milking teat disinfectant in pasture-grazed herds is unlikely to be of benefit where herd SCC is below 200 × 100 cells/mL. This is not the case with housed cows

Rinsing the teat with antiseptic solution its important step on milking routine!!. But wash teat its not good practice..... IF NECESSARY REPEAT ANTISEPTIC more than two times to get clean and then dry very well to go into clean dry and health teat for milking.

Thanks for your fruitful answer Dr. Rene Perez,

Rinsing the teat with antiseptic solution its important step on milking routine!!.

Washing teats and udder before and after milking can reduce mastitis incidence but not to prevent because there are many factors are incriminated to cause mastitis as trauma, bacterial infection through animal body and skin or equipment, air and water

Respected Dr. Ralph Ginsberg

Is it affects the somatic cell count and might be useful for reduced bacterial infections.

So interesting Dr Rene Perez.Its not a good practice. Skin teat bacteria would gain acces to esphinter of the teat and can move into into the teat conduct.

Appreciated but I many cases it is found better.

You are that milking with clean and dry hands but after teats and teat canal contains milk so bacteria gets entery in the teat canal resulting in udder infection specially mastitis.

It has long been known that hygiene measures during milking are very necessary in order to achieve good milk quality and good protection of the udder. Therefore the cleanliness of the teat before milking and dipping the teat after milking are very important.

In some studies result that post-milking teat disinfection applied is a key component in mastitis control and the results are better than addition of pre-milking disinfection.

J H Williamson & S J Lacy-Hulbert (2013) Effect of disinfecting teats post-milking or pre- and post-milking on intramammary infection and somatic cell count, New Zealand Veterinary Journal, 61:5, 262-268, DOI: 10.1080/00480169.2012.751576

According to the National Council, teat dipping is the single most effective practice for reducing mastitis infections, especially by contagious bacteria. Dipping all teats after each milking has a greater impact on reduction of milk somatic cell counts and increased milk yields than any other milking practice

Agreed with you dear Dr Danung Nur Adli.

Teat wash is a good additional tool to prevent bacteria get into the udder. Moreover helps in the stimulation of the udder to get good milk flow, reducing machine-on time and improving teat status. In any case, environmental conditions (hygiene in the stalls) and correct use and mantainance of the milking machine cannot be ignored.

No doubt teat is an additional tool to prevent bacterial udder infections thanks dear Dr. Joel Bueso-Rodenas

Since the teat touches the ground when the cow is sleeping, or when in tall grass, they might pick germs from those surfaces and hence the need for cleaning.

Thanks Dr Kiprotich Kiptum for your kind contribution.