A significant benefit from teat sealing was observed in the 225 heifers used in a teat seal trial in winter 2014/2015. The heifers used were from three Moorepark farms (Curtins, Moorepark and Kilworth) and the Greenfield farm in Kilkenny.

The background to the study is that on some farms, the main contributor to somatic cell count (SCC) and clinical mastitis problems are first-lactation cows in the first few months after calving. There is evidence to suggest that a lot of these early lactation infections are actually picked up in the pre-calving period.

Unlike cows that have been dried off using dry cow therapy and/or teat seal, first-calving heifers only have their own natural barrier to infection. Because heifers tend to spring-up sooner before calving than cows, they are at increased risk of picking up an infection pre-calving. The risk is greater when heifers are housed in more challenging conditions, such as a stand-off pad or on slats.

Because of this, some commercial farmers in Ireland have started to teat seal their heifers before they start to spring up, usually between four and six weeks before calving. The practice is more common in New Zealand, where cows and heifers are usually out-wintered. Teat sealing provides an artificial but antibiotic-free barrier against bacteria entering the udder.

With this in mind, a trial was started in Moorepark to see if the practice has any merits. Only two quarters from each heifer were teat sealed so each heifer acted as her own control. A sample of udder secrete was taken from all four quarters before teat seal was administered to two quarters. The same two quarters (right front and left hind) were teat sealed in all heifers.

The Results

All the animals were sampled at the time the teat seal was given, after calving, at two weeks after calving and again at mid-lactation. The individual quarter samples were analysed for SCC and bacteria, both contagious and environmental mastitis causing bacteria.

Because each heifer had both teat-sealed quarters and non-teat-sealed quarters, it was not possible to use bulk SCC data, which is SCC data from milk recording.

The findings show there was no difference in SCC between the different quarters but there was significant differences in the bacterial counts between the treated and untreated quarters. So, the untreated quarters had significantly more mastitis-causing bacteria present. Table 1 shows a breakdown of the results.

The results show that at the first milking, 6% of teat-sealed heifers had mastitis-causing bacteria in their quarters, while 17% of non-teat-sealed heifers had the same bacteria. Two weeks later, 7.8% of the teat-sealed heifers had bacteria present while 14% of non-teat-sealed heifers had bacteria present. By mid-lactation, 4% of teat sealed heifers had bacteria present, while 7.5% of the non-teat-sealed heifers had bacteria present.

An analysis of the results across lactation shows that quarters that were not teat sealed were 2.58 times more likely to have mastitis-causing bacteria than those that were teat-sealed. The chances of having bacteria present in non-teat-sealed quarters are 3.85 times higher at the first milking.

These results would suggest that teat sealing has significant benefits in reducing heifer’s exposure to mastitis-causing bacteria. Future studies at Moorepark are looking at treating all four quarters with teat sealing, comparing them against untreated quarters for SCC and bacteriology.

How to teat seal heifers

Teat sealing heifers is very different to teat sealing cows. Firstly, when most farmers teat seal cows they do so after inserting an antibiotic dry cow tube, which will help to kill any infection. You cannot treat first-calving heifers with antibiotic dry cow tubes, so the risk of allowing some bacteria to enter the teat canal when inserting the seal is much greater.

For this reason, hygiene is paramount. The teat ends must be scrubbed clean with cotton wool soaked in methylated spirits. Clean the furthest away teats first and then insert the teat seal into the teats, starting with the nearest teats so as to avoid contaminating the clean teats when reaching across.

Handling

The next big difference is to do with handling heifers. This is by far the biggest obstacle when teat-sealing heifers. Unlike cows, who are used to being handled, heifers are not, so they are unpredictable and can be dangerous to handle.

While milking heifers is hard enough, teat sealing them is even harder. There are three ways of doing it; in the milking parlour, in a crush, or in a hoof-paring crate.

All three methods work well, but which to use depends on the facilities and how much help is available. In the Moorepark teat-sealing trial, most of the heifers were teat-sealed in the milking parlour. The heifers were run through the parlour for a number of days beforehand to get them adjusted to the surroundings.

When they were being sampled, they were packed into the parlour tightly to prevent as much movement as possible, they were fed some meal to keep them calm and their tails were held while the teats were washed and sealed.

The heifers on the Greenfield farm were teat-sealed in a crush as milking facilities were not available on the contract-rearer’s farm. While in the crush, each heifer was done one at a time by lifting her leg with a rope and ratchet fixed to the side of the crush which is used for hoof paring. This helped to prevent the heifer from kicking as to remain standing she needs to keep the other leg on the ground.

Other farmers pack heifers tightly into a crush, get someone to hold their tails and use knee pads to go down on their knees and tube each heifer one at a time. Whatever method is chosen, it is going to be slow. The general time frame is that you will do about eight heifers per hour. Doing a faster job is not necessarily a good thing as you cannot compromise on hygiene.

The Greenfield team have recently changed where they do their teat sealing. They now use a dedicated hoof-paring crate to teat seal heifers in. This is safer than doing them in the crush because the heifers are more secure with a belly strap and a bar pressed up against their hindquarters.

A teat-sealing service is also now available whereby a technician comes on to your farm with his own hoof-paring crate and teat seals heifers for you. Some of these operators use flip-over hoof-paring crates which allow easy and safe access to the udder area.