Officials Receive Training on Mastitis Disease
The Ministry of Agriculture in partnership with Prime Consulting International Ltd recently conducted training on Mastitis Disease at the Fiji Cooperative Dairy Company Limited (FCDCL) conference room in Manoca, Nausori. Mastitis is an inflammation of the mammary gland or udder. It is caused by udder infections, usually resulting from bacteria introduced either during the milking process or from environmental contact. Chief Executive Officer of FCDCL, Mr. Sachida Nand said the purpose of the training was to educate staff of the Ministry of Agriculture and FCDCL on the importance of mastitis and its significance in dairy farming. “Once they are aware of it they can go out and advice farmers on how to cure mastitis and some of the best cost effective practices that can be taken on a daily basis to reduce mastitis on farms,” said Mr. Nand. “Mastitis is a common disease in dairy cows caused by use of unhygienic clinical tools. This is significantly one issue that is affecting milk production on farms and also affects the animals and future production,” said Mr Nand. “We have not had a study done to gauge the seriousness of this disease but have at least a 10 to 15% drop in production”. “Farmers think that mastitis can be prevented with any antibiotics. Antibiotics is only used at the curing stage. The preventative stage is when best practices are followed. Hygiene is a must and the milking machine should be cleaned and dried properly and stored away safely and also use teat spray as a cost effective measure,” added Mr. Nand. He said these are some of the things farmers can do on the farms which can help increase production and reduce cost in terms of loses from mastitis. The training was attended by the Ministry of Agriculture Locality Officers from the Central Division and five officers from the Fiji Cooperative Dairy Company Limited.