FINANCIAL ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVE TREATMENTS FOR CLINICAL MASTITIS ASSOCIATED WITH ENVIRONMENTAL PATHOGENS

For two large California dairy herds with twice daily milking, 171 inf ected quarters of lactating cows with mild clinical mastitis were rand omly assigned to one of three treatment groups. Group A (50 cows) was treated with 62.5 mg of intramammary amoxicillin every 12 h for three milkings. Group C (50 cows) was treated with 200 mg of intramammary ce phapirin every 12 h for two milkings. Group O (71 cows) was treated wi th 100 U of intramuscular oxytocin every 12 h for three milkings. Clin ical cure rates did not differ among treatment groups. The cost per ep isode of clinical mastitis was higher ($54.47) for group C than for gr oups A ($38.53) or O ($34.88). Group O had a higher incidence of relap se (41%), and a greater percentage of group O cows (65%) experienced a n additional mastitic event in the enrolled lactation than did cows in groups A and C. Treatment had no effect on the mean number of nonsala ble milkings (24.7) associated with mastitis in the lactation interval subsequent to enrollment on the trial. Twenty-two percent of the cows accrued more than 30 nonsalable milkings and produced 55% of the tota l nonsalable milkings associated with mastitis. There was no treatment effect on total milk production, fat production, or time to removal o f the enrolled cows from the herd.