Production of wholesome milk

Several factors directly or indirectly influence the full production potential of dairy animals that include inadequate feed sources, dairy herd structure, inadequate marketing channels and animal diseases.
In dairy animal diseases, the top standing is "mastitis". Do you mastitis?. Nearly every farmer is familiar with this illness. Mastitis inflames the mammary gland or udder which may be obvious (clinical) or hidden (sub-clinical) swelling.
Alternatively, there occur changes in milk composition and high bacterial count in the presence of large number of mastitis bacteria excreted into the milk with the production of abnormal number of somatic cells.
Once a cow or buffalo suffer from mastitis, requires antibiotics therapy, and the residues of the antibiotics appear in the milk. It is interesting to hear that every cow and buffalo develops mastitis before she dies. The milk of mastitis infected buffaloes and cattle are flooded with abnormal number of pus producing cells requiring intense care for human consumption.
What precautions we should make to solve this problem? The developed countries have introduced chemicals and sanitary standards of milk and its production for human consumption. No preservatives or harmful chemical like formaldehyde or hydrogen peroxide can be added. Sanitary standards are primarily requirements pertaining to the health of the cows and buffaloes, the conditions under which the animals are kept, and the methods used in milking and carrying the milk.
They have also introduced certain laws regarding the quality of raw milk and its impact on human health. For example, USDA allows milk to contain from one to one and a half million white blood cells per milliliter. In mastitic animals, this number increases many fold.
The milk having white blood cells above this number banned for human consumption. So the farmers in developed countries are very conscious and keep in examine and subsequent treatment of mastitic animals in time to avoid loss.
Further, the government and private enterprises engaged in dairy products give premium and other benefits to those farmers who produce milk that contain less number of white blood cells. This picture is totally conflicting in our country. Lack of milk quality premium system does not oblige the Pakistani dairy industry farmers to control mastitis in order to produce milk, which could meet international standards of hygiene.
Next is the treatment of mastitis infected animals by own expenses. The therapeutic cost to treat the mastitis infected buffaloes and cattle are high which is beyond the capacity of small farmers. Should we look for the economical alternative way to avoid the production of pus-free milk?. The answer is yes. To solve this problem, a doctoral research program was initiated at the Department of Clinical Medicine & Surgery, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad for the production of effective and cheaper mastitis vaccines. We have developed oil adjuvant mastitis vaccines of international standards.
Cows and buffaloes were given two shots of vaccines including aluminum hydroxide vaccine (ATV-OH) and three oil adjuvant trivalent vaccines. All the groups revealed successful protection (more than 90 percent) against field challenge to infection in the udder.
The most promising results in terms of better milk yield, high resistance to specific pathogens and least losses incurred at the farm were received from the oil based vaccines. However, rest of the vaccinated groups stated realities such as high immune response in serum and milk whey, increase in milk yield, decrease in the Somatic Cell Count, prevalence and incidence rate, Sharp Dinitrochloro-benzene (DNCB) response recorded the efficacy of other adjuvanted vaccines.
Concluding all oil based adjuvanted trivalent vaccines may be used safely for the control of mastitis in dairy buffaloes and cows and recommendations were given to the public and private sector for the promotion of oil adjuvanted trivalent vaccines as a part of scheduled vaccination program countrywide.
Further information and details can be collected from the Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad.
The author is Ph.D Scholar, Department of Clinical Medicine & Surgery University of Agriculture, Faisalabad.