Mastitis is an infection in the cows udder (mammary gland). It usually affects only one of her 4 teats at once. Mastitis is mainly caused by bacterial infection, although it may arise from various sources. It can be fatal in very extreme cases but these are rare.

Although mastitis can occur at any time, it is more common for it to occur after drying off (the period just prior to calving), and during early lactation.

The ideal means of dealing with mastitis is to prevent it from happening. However, even under the best of conditions, mastitis will occur.

Mastitis results in several changes in the composition of milk which can be used in mastitis detection, generally there are small flakes or clots (serous milk/fibrin) in the milk, and the milk may have an off-colour. This in turn affects the quantity and quality of milk production.

Detection of mastitis is generally based upon some manifestation of the inflammation (changes in the udder or in the milk). Spotted early it is easily treated by an antibiotics put directly into the affected teat with the special applicator or "Tube" as we call them.

The milk from a cow who has received such treatment must be thrown away for the manufacturers recommended time. In this case 3 days after the last application. If the milk was put in it would spoil an entire lorry load as it would be made unfit for use. A written record must be kept of treatment dates and antibiotics used.

This picture is of a "classic" example. These thick yellow lumps we call clots

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