When mastitis kept worsening on Te Maunga farm despite good milking routines and blanket dry cow therapy, Andrew Hardie had no clear explanation. A Farm Medix Herdscreen® changed that overnight—revealing a major, previously undetected Staph. aureus problem affecting 18% of the herd. That single diagnostic step set the foundation for a targeted, disciplined control programme and a sharp reduction in unnecessary antibiotic use.
Working with FIL, Farm Medix, and their vets, Andrew and his team implemented a strict Staph. aureus management strategy: separating and milking infected cows last, culling clinical cases, and culturing every new mastitis cow using the Farm Medix Check-Up/(now know as Fresh Cow Dry Cow®) kit.They also shifted to a fully selective dry-off approach driven by Farm Medix’s culture testing results rather than blanket treatments, supported by rigorous hygiene.
Snapshot® bulk milk tests guided the new season, identifying remaining Staph cows early so they could be isolated immediately. With correct teat-spray choice, improved teat condition, and consistent culture-based decisions, the herd’s SCC has steadily declined and antibiotic use has dropped by roughly 80% compared with the previous year—while production has improved.
For Andrew, the turning point was simple: once the real pathogen was identified and treated with precision, progress followed.
Click here for the full story on FIL’s website.
Once we started culturing every case with Farm Medix, everything changed. We finally knew what pathogen we were dealing with and how to treat it properly.