International Dairy Topics • Volume 16 Number 3 27

Productivity has never been moreimportant than now in Europe,considering the challenging market

conditions being experienced by dairyfarmers. Almost all European countries havewitnessed a decrease in the number ofcows, with Ireland and the Netherlandsbeing the strong exceptions. What is alsoimportant to recognise is that while herdsare consolidating, productivity is alsoincreasing.

by F&B Agriculture Team, Europe.www.ecolab.com

With cutting costs an obvious response toa falling milk price, many farmersunderstand the importance of stayingwithin their penalty bands. A rigorousmilking routine is more important than everbefore as challenges are still on the risefrom environmental pathogens such as S. uberis and E. coli.

In this case, teat disinfectants able tobuild a shield on the teat protect againstenvironmental pathogens between milking,and in particular in challenging housingconditions. Until recently, shield productswere not available for automated sprayingsystems.

There is no better way to increase milkyield and reduce somatic cell counts than

by disinfecting and protecting the entireteat as part of a post-milking routine.

The benefit is a shield protection againstchallenging housing conditions, a lastingdisinfection effect and improved teatcondition. With this in mind, extensiveresearch and trial work went intoovercoming the challenges which havehistorically accompanied manufacturing aviscous product through a nozzle. Theresult was IoShield Spray, the first shieldspray for teats.

The proof is in the pudding. Farmers fromacross Europe have seen that a betterquality product ensures they will remainwithin the band and therefore lock inprices.

Testimonial 1Devon, England

Lower Ash Farm in Devon, England, hasbeen in the Wallis family for close to 200years. Chris is the fourth generation Wallisto own the farm. He has run the farm since1995 and, along with his wife Carmen andson Jimmy, milks up to 200 pedigreeHolstein, twice a day in a 15 unit swing overherringbone parlour.

Last year they produced >1x106 litres. Theircows go out to grass between April andSeptember to October during the day. Chris

and Carmen started trialling IoShield Sprayas a development product in June 2015 andtook delivery of their first order inDecember 2015.

With an SCC routinely between 150 and200, save for the odd blip, and a Bactoscanof ≤20, Chris continues to order more stockas he sees no reason to change.

Chris stated that it does produce a visibleshield and an occasionally a teat canal plug.This is evident when he wipes the teats, preapplication of the clusters, as there isvisible residue on the wipe.

Testimonial 2Friesland, Netherlands

It was hot, humid and stuffy when LolcoLolkema walked through his cowshed in thelate summer of 2015. An increase in cellcount worried him. As he looked throughthe milk yield lists there was more oftenthan not a cow which did not go to therobot and gave no milk. Upon inspection ofthe cow he observed a flabby udder andwatery milk.

If one had just recovered, he had yetanother cow with the same symptoms, sohe started searching for another udderhygiene product.

Then he heard about the IoShield SprayContinued on page 28

Post milking barrier spray dramaticallyreduces risks

Lolco Lolkema switched to IoShield Spray for his herd in the Netherlands.

Chris Wallis with his pedigree Holstein/Friesian herd.

28 International Dairy Topics • Volume 16 Number 3

from Ecolab. He was very surprised thatimmediately after application of the spraythe cell count decreased and less mastitisoccurred.Lolco had also switched from traditional

milking to a robot. After that transition theSCC went up slightly, but that is a prettycommon phenomenon when a dairy farmerswitches to a robot. The increase at the end of the summer

was so extreme that there had to be moreto it. Lolco took action immediately. It waslate August, early September and the hot,humid weather caused one E. coli case afteranother. He had tried everything and taken all

possible measures, but nothing helped. Thesomatic cell count remained high and wasat one time even at 260,000. According to his veterinarian, many

colleagues in the area had trouble with E.coli bacteria. Unfortunately it also turnedout to be the case for them. In the beginning he was sceptical about

using the new spray and thought it was justa smooth sales pitch. But ultimately hedecided to go for it.Previously he treated the udders with a

spray based on lactic acid. After purchasingthe robot, this was not sufficient. So he waslooking for an efficient product thatworked on a robot, against environment-related bacteria.

Lolco added IoShield Spray and as soon asthe first container was connected to therobot he saw a positive outcome. The SCC dropped immediately and they

have had no more new E. coli cases sincethen. Basically it formed a second skinaround the teat, so the E. coli could not doany more harm. One sick cow requires much more time

than 20 healthy cows. Meanwhile, thefarmer has the environmental relatedbacteria under control and his herd is veryhealthy. The udder health is very nice and the teat

condition is extremely good. The cell countis stable and much better than before. Theyhave therefore had no other healthproblems with the herd.Now, in April 2017, Lolco Lolkema is still

using IoShield Spray and is very satisfied.The somatic cell count is good: 102,000 andthe teat condition has improved even more.

The facts

l An ideal cell count is just about around100,000. Such a value implies that the cowsare healthy and within the coupling therewill be little or no loss of production.

l On a cell count from 200,000 a farmerwill have about 15% production loss andthat increases as the SCC rises. n

Continued from page 27

Carmen Wallis in Devon, England withone of her pedigree Holstein/Friesiancows.