Practices of clinical mastitis therapy in French dairy cattle herds

The implication of clinical mastitis therapy is important, both for economical reasons and public health concerns, because of possible antibiotic residues in milk and antimicrobial resistance. The study aimed to describe the practices of clinical mastitis therapy in French dairy herds, in order to propose applicable advices to farmers. Through the "Objectif Zero Mammite, Lait 5 Etoiles" epidemiological research program, description of mastitis cases and their therapy was collected in a prospective cohort of dairy farms registered with Dairy Herd Improvement Associations. A total of 15,163 clinical mastitis cases in 8,990 cows from 523 farms were reported. An intramammary treatment was carried out in 97.0 % of the cases, with antibacterial and anti-inflammatory drugs in more than 70 % of the cases. An intramammary drug labelled for dry period was used-in 0.4 % of the cases. A parenteral therapy was carried out in 35.7 % of the cases, with extra label drugs in 1.1 %. The veterinary intervention rate was 4.8%. In conclusion, the French clinical mastitis therapy practices systematically involved an intramammary treatment which was sometimes associated with a parenteral injection. The use of extra label drugs, which is of growing concern for public health, was limited.