A HIPRA University course was held on 21st November in Manzanares, Ciudad Real, with the aim of enhancing training for veterinarians in two key aspects for the prevention of mastitis in dairy sheep: milking parlour and routine.

The course started on the farm with the first milking of the day during which Demetrio Herrera (Q-Llet) provided a practical explanation of the critical points that may be encountered in the milking parlour, both with regard to the parlour and the routine employed, that may adversely affect the animal’s udder.

With the points identified during the practical part, Demetrio expanded on the implications of not having appropriate settings on the milking parlour or of not implementing a proper routine in the parlour. On the basis of this, he provided the attendees with corrective tools and solutions to enable them, as veterinarians, to advise the farmer when faced with this type of problem on the farm.

In both sheep and goat dairy production, it is important to have tools that help us to obtain more information on the farm and that complement the measures applied during the milking process. Along these lines, Miguel Ángel Sanz (small ruminants specialist, HIPRA España) explained the services that are made available by HIPRA to its clients to facilitate decision-making: the diagnostic service (HIPRA Diagnos) or HIPRA Stats are two of the principal tools used to learn about and better diagnose the situation on a farm, not only in terms of pathogens, but also general management. There was also time to talk about vaccination and how this is key to the prevention of typical diseases on dairy farms, such as mastitis, for example.

By the end of the day, the participants were able to return home with more tools and solutions to offer to their farmers to improve diagnosis and milking management at different levels. With this initiative, HIPRA once again reaffirms its commitment to small ruminants veterinarians, by offering them practical training that is useful for their day-to-day work.