Milking and Mastitis Management - 2 day course

Join Dairy NSW and vet, Natasha Lees, for this 2-day hands on course all about Milking and Mastitis Management.

Milking and Mastitis Management (MMM) is a course that has been refreshed to replace Dairy Australia's highly regarded Cups On Cups Off course. It features updated course content and takes place over two consecutive days. Attendees will be able to explore best practice with milk harvesting; prioritise what you, as an individual can do to improve milk harvesting and mastitis control, also what the farm team can do; and develop an action plan based on these priorities.

MMM is suitable for new milking staff or as a refresher for existing staff and managers.

Day 1 is classroom-based theory and provides plenty of opportunity for discussion and sharing of experiences.

Day 2 is a practical session held on-farm to apply the learnings in a real dairy with real cows.

Participants must be available to attend both days.

This 2-day workshop will improve your understanding of the physiology of milk letdown and udder health and how your actions and processes before, during and after milking influence the quality and quantity of milk harvested and the mastitis level in the herd.

Topics covered include:

• The importance of producing a quality and safe food product including the factors that influence milk quality.
• Teat and udder biology and their influence on udder health and mastitis control.
• Cow behaviour and its influence on milk letdown and mastitis control.
• Milking routines and their importance for cow and udder health, including effective port-milking teat disinfection.
• Milking machines- how they work and interact with the udder, including trouble-shooting basic machine problems.
• Hygiene in the dairy including during application of intra-mammary treatments.
• Detection and treatment of clinical mastitis.

Morning tea and lunch will be provided on both days, please ensure you list dietary requirements in your registration.

Day 1 will be held at Bomaderry Bowling Club.

Day 2 will be held on farm in Kangaroo Valley. The farm address will be provided to attendees prior to the day.

Clean, enclosed footwear must be worn on farm along with clean clothing. Please wear boots that can be put in a foot bath.

Anyone who has been overseas in the past 14 days, or is unwell is asked to stay at home.

For all enquiries, please contact Paul Van Wel at paul@dairynsw.com.au or on 0407 434 073.