somatic cell count test kit

how much is everyones co-op charging a sample for a cell count test?

we have sent in a few samples to test for antibiotics and I think father said that was free
 
BasilSeal said:
so cost of four test strips was £4
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Out of interest where do ya get the test strips for £1 each. They work out almost 2quid each from magenta direct. But yep, certainly going to look into buying that digital reader.

Actually does anyone know how much the PG milk recording works out at per cow? Might make sense just to get them to get 4 samples from any troublemaker cows.
 
aidank said:
how much is everyones co-op charging a sample for a cell count test?

we have sent in a few samples to test for antibiotics and I think father said that was free
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2euro each for the scc, with Glanbia, just leave them out for the milkman.

Our local Glanbia plant (in Inch, Wexford) will test a bulk tank sample for antibiotics for free, however if they find it to be positive they have to report it back to the head Glanbia office.
 
PG milk recording usually works out around 6.70 a cow for 4 tests in the year. Its expensive and can be a slow job but lets you keep on top of things as after each recording theres a devoted mastitis cow sectionwhich lets you review how there scc changes over the year. Worth a lot when your deciding what bulls to put to a cow as you can see whos high or low in solids as opposed to litres. You know what they say "a pipeline parlour is a bad cows best friend"
 
Tim818 said:
Out of interest where do ya get the test strips for £1 each. They work out almost 2quid each from magenta direct. But yep, certainly going to look into buying that digital reader.

.
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I buy them from milwood products, as above:

http://www.millwoodproducts.co.uk/

they are the main importers so i would imagine you'll get the best price for them, i also found them very helpful WRT explaining how to use the test, and doing it exactly right is important.
 
Yes, I have one. A good tool, instant readings, takes a bit of practice to get good at using it. Doesn't read out SCC, but conductivity (like some milking machines do). Going to use it across the herd in next couple of days as cell count is high (185) and wont be milk recording for a fortnight yet. Will do a quarter a milking, as in all the front rights this evening.

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bruceythom said:
Yes, I have one. A good tool, instant readings, takes a bit of practice to get good at using it. Doesn't read out SCC, but conductivity (like some milking machines do). Going to use it across the herd in next couple of days as cell count is high (185) and wont be milk recording for a fortnight yet. Will do a quarter a milking, as in all the front rights this evening.

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I have used one of those conductivity testers, but wasn't that impressed, found a basic CMT would give a better reading really
 
I wouldnt agree! Have found it very consistent, first thing to do is test a sample of milk from the tank, then anything slightly lower reading is a higher cell count, decent bit lower, mark the cow and re-check after a few days, a lot lower, tube of penicillin. Id say the milking machines that test conductivity are a master job, anyone on here have one?

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Well, i'm not really sure what unit you're using and the one i had was probably over 10 years ago so they may well have improved since then.
 
All its doing is testing the conductivity of the milk, the lower the conductivity of the milk, the higher the SCC. Like I say, takes a bit of practice, usually you'd fimd the cow that might have an average reading in 3 quarters, and very low in one is a culprit, rather than low in 4 quarters.

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bruceythom said:
All its doing is testing the conductivity of the milk, the lower the conductivity of the milk, the higher the SCC. Like I say, takes a bit of practice, usually you'd fimd the cow that might have an average reading in 3 quarters, and very low in one is a culprit, rather than low in 4 quarters.

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Which would show up on the CMT then? ;)
 
Yes, but go do the CMT on all your cows this evening and you'd appreciate this unit. Its an electronic version of the CMT test with instant readings, no messing around, testing and treating during milking. I think I paid approx €300 for it.

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bruceythom said:
All its doing is testing the conductivity of the milk, the lower the conductivity of the milk, the higher the SCC. Like I say, takes a bit of practice, usually you'd fimd the cow that might have an average reading in 3 quarters, and very low in one is a culprit, rather than low in 4 quarters.

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There is an advert in the bottom right hand quarter of this farmerjournal page.http://www.farmersjournal.ie/leagues/Milk_2007/ML_may07.pdf Is that the one your talking about?
 
That's the one. Results are there once you hit the button. No running around with samples.

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Tim818 said:
What does everyone use for high SCC treatment? How long do ya let a cow with a high reading go for before ya try treat it? And at what stage do yas say enough is enough, if she isn't responding?

Final question, anyone bother with quarter milkers: http://www.fearing.co.uk/cattle/milking/parlour-sundries/quarter-milker-8ltr
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If a cow is high in scc there is only one place for her,unfortually.
Prevention is better than cure in my few,testing and treating is fine and the sooner the better,as regards treating.
If a cow gets mastitis,the first time you have a 50% change of curing and down to 20% after that if she repeats.
There was a good article on the farmers weekly called "mastering mastitis",google it and you`ll find it.

Ya we use a quater milker here its fine but tbh those cows don`t be around for very long here,and that would be 2-3 cows,anyways there making 13-1400 in the factory.
 
BasilSeal said:
I can't see how it would take a deal longer to cmt them with one of these:

http://www.fearing.co.uk/cattle/milking/udder-health/x-spurt
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It'd be grand for one cow, but the Draminski gives you an instant result. Draw a quarter, hit the button, result, on to next quarter. You'd have a cow done with results as quick as you could strip her, on to next cow. Have milked and tested ALL of my cows on my own. Didnt have to do it last year, but year before I was milking, testing and treating 67 cows on my own within an hour. 85 to do now, scc is running at 180 so I want to nip it in the bud, particularly if there's heifers infected, the quicker you treat them, the better the chances of recovery
High scc old cows are bordering impossible of obtaining satisfactory results. Ruthlessness is the best medicine for them.......hmm, beef burgers!

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bruceythom said:
It'd be grand for one cow, but the Draminski gives you an instant result. Draw a quarter, hit the button, result, on to next quarter. You'd have a cow done with results as quick as you could strip her, on to next cow. Have milked and tested ALL of my cows on my own. Didnt have to do it last year, but year before I was milking, testing and treating 67 cows on my own within an hour. 85 to do now, scc is running at 180 so I want to nip it in the bud, particularly if there's heifers infected, the quicker you treat them, the better the chances of recovery
High scc old cows are bordering impossible of obtaining satisfactory results. Ruthlessness is the best medicine for them.......hmm, beef burgers!

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how does the accuracy of this compare to the result you get from the co-op
 
aidank said:
how does the accuracy of this compare to the result you get from the co-op
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You don't get an scc reading on the tester, it tests the conductivity of the milk (ie, the milk's ability to pass current) the lower the conductivity, the higher the scc. It does reliably pick out the problem cows and gives you an indication as to how bad she is.

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