Costing a weighty 170 million pounds every year, mastitis is one of the priciest diseases impacting the UK dairy farms’ production profitability today. 

Aside from the initial treatment costs, there are the longer-term impacts on performance and longevity. Adding to the management complexity are the targets around the responsible use of antibiotics recently released by a task force of leading vets and farmers within RUMA (Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture Alliance). There is also the growing focus on reducing the overall environmental impact of dairy production, including methane and mineral footprint.  

This spinning web of complexity continues and extends the need to address the risk factors associated with mastitis incidence and severity and help support your herd’s natural immune function.  

The role of nutrition in mastitis management 

Well-managed environments, along with careful milking routines, can help prevent mastitis spread and severity, either through contagious or environmental transfer. However, there is growing evidence that nutrition can significantly support a cow’s natural immunity against the near-inevitable reality of bacterial pathogen exposure. Aside from this direct impact, nutrition also plays a role in alleviating metabolic diseases, such as milk fever, that can increase a cow’s susceptibility to mastitis. 

10 essential feeding strategies: 

1. Avoid cows from becoming too fat in late lactation or during the dry period  
2. Avoid changes in body condition score during the dry period 
3. Avoid a large decrease in feed intake during the pre-fresh period  
4. Promote a rapid increase in energy intake during the immediate post-fresh period  
5. Keep supplemental fat in the diet low for the two weeks after calving   
6. Give fresh cows lots of room and plenty of access to the feed face    
7. Carefully manage potassium and sodium intake pre-calving to reduce udder oedema  
8. Protect white blood cells by feeding good quality mould- and mycotoxin-free silage 
9. Avoid hypocalcaemia development by ensuring adequate calcium/phosphorus ratio 
10. Meet transition cow requirements for trace minerals and vitamins in the correct form 

How minerals help to reduce mastitis risk 

Trace minerals, when properly supplemented, are proven to support immune response to mastitis-causing pathogens. 

Selenium is a component of the enzyme glutathione peroxidase, aiding mammary cell and tissue protection from oxidative damage by free radicals. More specifically, selenium aids the phagocytotic ability of certain leukocytes in the mammary gland, resulting in pathogenic ingestion, and helping to reduce mastitis incidence and severity. Selenium is incorporated into over 25 selenoproteins with numerous functions including cytokine production, inflammatory pathway signalling, neutrophil function and lymphocyte proliferation.  

Copper deficiencies are associated with retained placentas, early embryonic deaths, decreased conception rates, infections at calving, increased infection severity and higher somatic cell counts (SCC). Copper is also a component of enzymes necessary for electron transport during aerobic respiration, lysyl oxidase for strong bone and connective tissues and superoxide dismutase, which protects cells from the toxic effects of oxygen metabolites. 

Zinc, a key element of one of the superoxide dismutase enzymes and other essential enzyme systems, is essential in wound healing, epithelial tissue repair and cellular integrity maintenance. Zinc is an essential ingredient in keratin production, a physical and chemical pathogenic barrier lining the inside of the teat duct. Zinc also helps maintain skin and, therefore, the structure of the mammary. 

Manganese is a co-factor for enzymes in the metabolism of carbohydrates, fats, proteins and nucleic acids. It is essential for normal brain function and is important for proper immune function and wound healing. Manganese is involved in collagen formation, bone growth, urea formation, fatty acid synthesis, cholesterol synthesis and protein digestion. 

Mineral requirements are influenced by many factors, including age/lactation, stage of pregnancy and minerals naturally present in forage. It is quite common that a cow has sufficient mineral intake for target growth and reproductive performance, but not enough for optimal immune performance. To ensure mineral inclusion levels that are both economically and environmentally sustainable, Alltech recommends first conducting a full assessment and evaluation of all mineral sources, including forage, compound feed, blend and boluses. 

Understanding mineral chelation, stability and bioavailability  

Building on the continuing need to protect production profitability from the economic impacts of mastitis, comes the growing pressure around environmental impact of mineral supplementation.  

This focus has progressed from comparing inorganics to organics, to comparing organics to organics.  

Inorganic minerals (such as sulphates, oxides and selenite) are generally less stable throughout the digestive tract than chelated trace minerals (CTMs). They can cause oxidation, reduce the efficacy of antioxidants and even inhibit the activity of enzymes, due to the reactivity of inorganic minerals at an acidic pH. However, it is probably more important to realise that weakly bonded, unstable CTMs can have the same adverse effects as inorganic minerals and can have the same inferior bioavailability credentials.  

A recent study using potentiometric-based techniques analysed a range of commercial CTMs using a copper ion-selective electrode to determine their in vitro stabilities over a pH range reflective of physiological conditions. Figure 1 illustrates the notable difference in the pH-dependent stability of commercial CTMs, with the amount of bound copper varying considerably between samples. Furthermore, the data indicate that some CTMs have low or no capacity for stable mineral bonding at acidic pH, with obvious impacts on the bio efficacy of the products. These differences can be attributed to not only the type of ligand used but also to the production process used to generate the same.  

Alltech’s Total Replacement Technology™ (TRT) entirely replaces inorganic trace minerals with Bioplex® and Sel-Plex® chelated trace minerals. 

By using specific amino acid and peptide ligands that imitates that of minerals found in animal and plant material, those using TRT can expect reduced reactivity in the gastrointestinal tract while also allowing for multiple absorption pathways. To produce an organic form of selenium, it is necessary to supply it as a substrate for yeast metabolism. The mineral is taken up by the yeast and deposited in seleno-amino acids within the yeast (Sel-Plex). 

TRT has enhanced stability at acidic pH levels due to the proprietary hydrolysis process in which the mineral binding potential of the peptides is optimised. This means that the minerals have no negative interference with essential dietary components or cellular processes. The bioactive peptides can form strong bonds with minerals such as Cu, Fe, Zn and Mn to ensure their delivery to the absorption sites in the small intestine. 

TRT is the most researched bio-enhanced nature-equivalent mineral management technique on the market. Alltech is the only company to have two fully documented published assays to demonstrate quantitative chelation. The first assay uses a form of infra-red spectroscopy to measure the amount of bound mineral, whereas the second assay uses a form of crystallography to measure unbound mineral.  

A recent trial analysed the impact of Alltech minerals on zootechnical performances and the health of high-yielding cows, demonstrating a 35% reduction in risk factors that can lead to incidences of mastitis. This equated to a reduction in the total number of mastitis cases by 15 in every 100 milking cows, where the incidence rate is an average of 21%.