mastitis breakthrough

MMA has just tweeted the following.

"SIGNIFICANT REDUCTION IN ON FARM USE OF
ANTI-BIOTICS AND SOMATIC CELL COUNTS IN DAIRY COWS ON COMMERCIAL APPLICATION OF NEW FEED TECHNOLOGY.

TWO TPM® TECHNOLOGIES HAVE SHOWN RESULTS IN MASTITIS ISSUES
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DAIRY COW Feed Pellet which includes TPM® and other actives used on 700 cow Victorian Herd.
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New Oil Drench which includes TPM® provides success in herd health.

11 December 2013, Melbourne, Australia: Following a report about its technology on ABC’s Landline program in June this year, Mastitis Management Australia (MMA) was approached by Tom Acocks, a dairy farmer with a large herd in Rochester Victoria to apply MMA’s formulas in a commercial on farm setting. Since August this year they have been collecting data from the 700 cow dairy where MMA’s technologies have recently been added to the commercial production of the farms mineral pellets.
The formulations developed from its previous clinical work carried out in 2010/2011 have shown great benefits in overall herd health and also a significant reduction in the on farm use of antibiotics used to treat cows with clinical mastitis.
Recently appointed MMA General Manager Richard Nevile, said the commercial results validate the formulas and the years of work his company and the scientists at Phosphagenics Ltd (a Melbourne based Biotechnology Company) had carried out to refine this globally patented technology.
Whilst all parameters of herd health were looked at over the initial 4 months with favorable results in Volumes, Protein, Fats etc, the outstanding result for the new technology when coupled within the dairy’s feed was simply put, the farm used 50% fewer antibiotic applications in cows with a Somatic Cell Count (SSC) in excess of 1 million.

Mr. Nevile added, “In that same group of cows we also saw a huge improvement in SCC levels dropping by 46%”

Richard Nevile said, “The take home message here for our industry is one of pure economics, with the reduction of SCC and reduction of Antibiotic use it’s a win/win for the farmer, not to mention the health of the cows, dairy processors and the community in general. “
“The overuse of antibiotics in the food chain is now well understood, with many nations moving to outlaw their use. In that case this is where this novel technology developed by MMA and Phosphagenics would offer great benefits.”

Our dairy farmer, Tom Acocks said “In a really tough year for our herd, the formulations have helped our cows under the most stress, both with sub clinical and clinical mastitis. The cows are looking better and our BMCC are looking good”

“Although we have had more cows show clinical mastitis due to a number of really extreme environmental conditions (rainfall), per cow we have used much less antibiotic than at the same time last year” .
Of note during the commercial application, the farm experienced quite heavy weather patterns which were double the rainfall in the corresponding period of the previous year. Mr. Acocks the owner of the herd said you could not have trialed these feed formulations at a worse time.
The first commercial application has shown that the use of Udder-Mate® oil formula and adding the TPM® into the feed to increase per cow and overall herd health, along with a recommended mastitis program can significantly reduce SCC in problem cows, thereby helping farmers achieve the extra income from band 1 payments from the factory.

In the second run of pellets in the commercial herd on the Acocks property MMA have included the addition of a TPM® / Organic Selenium mix that has also been added to the mineral pellet. During discussions whilst the first pellet formula was being used in the herd it was noted by Mr. Acocks that should the herd health also show an increase in fertility through joining rates, then the technology would have a double appeal to dairy farmers.
Rob Neely Managing Director and head formulator for Mastitis Management Australia said “From data achieved in a non-related trial several years ago, the company was aware that TPM® had the ability to incrementally increase Selenium absorption and also increase a Selenium dependent enzyme known as GPX (Glutathione peroxidase)”
He said, “Selenium was necessary for normal growth and fertility, and whilst most mineral pellets had a form of selenium in them, most if not all feed companies opt for the cheaper and more toxic inorganic forms. With the data we had at hand, we would be hoping that Dairy farmers see a 5% increase in joining rates by using the MMA hi tech formulas integrated into the mineral pellet.”
They are now 5-6 weeks into the new pellet use on the herd and we expect to see fertility results and the results of the joining rates over the next 4 to 8 weeks as testing is carried out.
Should that be the case, we believe we will have a global product sought after by feed companies internationally.
He said “Since the initiation of the second new and improved pellet into the herd, the BVC has now dropped to average 100,000SCC. This of course is consistent with the applications seen over decades of scientific work and literature around the world and by using TPM® Technology we are able to make normal vitamins and minerals more bio available allowing the animals to be healthier and fight infection of their own accord. In my opinion the use of anti-biotics in the feed chain will be outlawed globally in the not too distant future. Tom Acocks has now placed his third order for the technology to be included in his next pellet run which will be manufactured before Christmas, such is his enthusiasm for the feed technology.”
To ensure the reliability of these outstanding results, Richard Nevile said “The Udder-Mate® formulas will be available in commercial use in a more dairies in different regions and in different management structures around Victoria. We expect to increase the commercial dairies to as many as 20 farms and up to 10,000 cows over the next few months. Any farmers wishing to take advantage of this can contact me to discuss how to do this.”
We have already been speaking with owners of some very large herds who are keen to integrate the feed pellet and also drenching system into their sophisticated operations. Easydairy has already written the software to allow a liquid formula to be applied automatically or as the farmers dictate.
Writing in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), David Wallinga, MD, Senior Advisor in Science, Food and Health with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy argues that the routine addition of antibiotics to animal feed is not a necessary component for animal feed and is contributing to a coming ‘catastrophe’ of antibiotic resistance.
He explained that, “based on a growing body of evidence, almost every European and North American public health authority agrees that routine antibiotic use in animal food production likely worsens the epidemic of resistance… Less certain is the political will to act upon that information.” Wallinga continued
MMA’s Rob Neely said that the total volume of stock feed produced for the Australian Dairy Market is ~3.01MMT per annum and that MMA is targeting a 10-15% market share by appointing Exclusive Manufacturing Licensees in each state. The Udder-Mate® feed inclusion formulas will be available in high concentrate drenches, feed additive, and in full formulated pelleted feeds. The company is now looking to appoint exclusive manufacturers to add its technologies in each territory in Australia and New Zealand.
80 Percent of US Antibiotics Use Is for Agricultural Purposes
The US uses nearly 15 million Kgs of antibiotics annually in food production. Livestock antibiotic use accounts for 80 percent of the total antibiotics sold in the US. Compare this to the 3 million Kgs of antibiotics that are used for every man, woman and child in the US combined. CAFOs, in particular, are hotbeds for breeding antibiotic-resistant bacteria because of the continuous feeding of low doses of antibiotics to the animals, which allows pathogens to survive, adapt, and eventually, thrive.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) ruled that antibiotic resistance is a major threat to public health, worldwide, and the primary cause for this man-made epidemic is the widespread misuse of antibiotics.
MMA has been developing the Udder-Mate feed inclusion technology for 3 years now and is dedicated to providing dairy operations and feed manufacturers with innovative nutritional ingredients and technologies. Dairy producers seek feed ingredients that, when used in combinations, will optimize production and profit. These technologies not only increase milk production efficiency, they may also enhance the effectiveness of the cow’s immune response. What we have witnessed here in its first commercial application is that TPM® Delivery Technology can significantly enhance the nutritional benefits of selected Vitamins, minerals that have a role in normal metabolic or physiological functions by applying our TPM® formulas directly into the stock feed chain.