BACTERIA can breed in a host of different environments on dairy cow farms, but using lime as a bedding material can help keep the bugs at bay.

Environmental mastitis accounts for more than 50% of all mastitis cases in UK cattle. Costs associated with environmental mastitis are not just from treatment alone, as in fact mastitis treatment is less than 15% of the total economic cost. The largest portion is in lost milk production, not just in the existing lactation but damage to tissues can be permanent and affect subsequent lactations as well.

The economic impact of a clinical case of mastitis is thought to be in the neighbourhood of £149 to £250 per case and can infect in the region of 30-70 cows in an average 100-cow herd each year. Based on this, environmental mastitis can cost a 100-cow herd between £4500 and £17,500 per year.

In order to beat the bugs, farmers are advised to adopt a ‘prevention is better than a cure’ mindset and maintain an environment in the shed where bacteria finds it difficult to exist. Bacteria, such as e-coli and strep uberis, which causes environmental mastitis infections, prefer conditions where moisture and organic materials are prevalent, and will grow and multiply rapidly in these conditions.

For that reason, farmers should pay particular attention to ensure bedding areas for livestock are kept clean and dry, and at appropriate stocking levels. Further attention should also be paid to selection of bedding material.

While organic materials such as sawdust, crop residues, paper, pulp or compost are readily available and highly absorbent, they also act as 'food' sources for environmental mastitis-inducing bacteria.

Read more:

When this material becomes wet, it makes it easy for bacteria present to grow and multiply, and even when bedding areas treated with organic materials are maintained by removing faecal matter and urine, and replenishing bedding material daily, there is no guarantee that the material itself is free from bacteria in the first place.

Kilwaughter Lime on the east coast of Northern Ireland has been selling MasterCAL bedding lime as an ideal product for farmers to use for bedding livestock.

Very popular in Scotland, it is a blend of hydrated lime and high purity calcium carbonate. Highly absorbent, it is made from inorganic limestone which bacteria cannot use as a food source.

Furthermore, the hydrated lime blend in the product is proven by an independent laboratory trial to exceed veterinary standards in controlling populations of the four main bacterial causes of environmental mastitis by raising the pH of the bedding environment.

Unlike some other hydrated lime products, MasterCAL is friendly to both the user and the livestock, with its blend of calcium carbonate and hydrated lime much less likely to cause coughing, choking or skin irritation, or abrasion, with no compromise on efficacy.

It is available in 20kg paper bags or one tonne sacks and is an ideal product for farmers to use in helping to keep livestock clean and dry and free of diseases caused by environmental bacteria and is being sold by many merchants across Scotland.