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Decision support tool for implementing vaccination against mastitis

Publications
Cattle
Authors

Ettema, J.; Pochodyla, M.; Schmidt ,H.

SimHerd with the additional module for estimating the economic impact of STARTVAC® has since the development been used by Danish veterinarians. The simulated results of the vaccine efficacy are used for decision support but also in the valuable discussion between farmer and veterinarian on management practices of udder health. Simherd has already supported decisions to vaccinate herds in Denmark.

Recent studies have documented the efficacy of STARTVAC® against S. aureus (Schukken et al. 2014) and E. coli (Bradley et al. 2015). The former study stressed that the economic impact of STARTVAC® in a specific herd depends on the herd’s infection level with S. aureus and management level for udder health, such as milking procedures and culling regime of infected cows. Bradley et al. (2014) reported a return on investment of 2.6:1, but in the article it is stressed that this concerns the effects on milk yield alone and not the effect of the vaccine on the reduced severity of clinical cases

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