June 2026 – Seal The Deal: Protect your milk and margin with teat disinfectant

The best method to break the cycle of mastitis spreading on dairy farms? That elusive silver bullet…

Plainly speaking, this is an impossible question to give a generic answer to because of the differences between farms, herd management, and all the moving parts involved in producing milk (i.e., the routines and machines).

However, my gut reaction is to always refer to the benefit of consistently applying enough post-milking teat disinfectant (PMTD) to the entire barrel of every teat at every milking. Why? Because the practice of all-year round PMTD has been demonstrated to reduce the incidence of contagious mastitis by 50%. I may be preaching to the choir here but in terms of mastitis control that is an enormous figure. But please note, attention to detail is crucial to get anywhere near this magical 50% reduction.

Most of the time contagious infections are caused by a bacterium known as Staphylococcus aureus, which frequently causes protracted cases of subclinical mastitis (‘invisible to the naked eye’) – more commonly referred to as high SCC. I am in no doubt that people reading this can pluck out numerous examples of these persistently infected high SCC cows on their own farms. Imagine, that simple task of spraying or dipping at the end of milking can reduce these by 50%. If anyone offered a dairy farmer those odds they would gladly accept. It may be routine, but this importance should never be overlooked. Not even for a single day.

Using the term ‘disinfectant’ often limits people’s views on the actions of these products, because PMTDs have two roles to play – PROTECT AND PRESERVE.

1.  PROTECT
   Reduce the bacterial numbers on the teat skin, which is even more important in dry teats or cracked teats. These bacteria are the very ones which contaminate milker’s hands, paper towels and milking liners.
2. PRESERVE
   Maintain supple teat skin by use of skin conditioners, such as emollients (seal moisture in) and humectants (draw moisture in), to minimise teat skin cracks which create the perfect craters for bacteria to hide in.

Let’s put these benefits into context. Ask yourself:

      a. Have you seen dry teats in your herd, especially during housing periods when cows are on limed cubicles?
      b. Have you seen teat end damage in your herd, especially in the second half of lactation?

No doubt you are now wondering how you maximise the returns you get from your PMTD. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing it properly. So, seal the deal! Protect you milk and margin with PMTD.

Full Coverage. Every Teat. Every Cow. Every Milking. All Year Round.

There are several ways of applying a PMTD, from spraying nozzles, spraying cups, mounted sprayers, dip cups, and automated arms. Regardless of method you need to achieve the 3 C’s.

1. CORRECT AMOUNT
   Ensure 15ml of PMTD is used for every cow at every milking if spraying, and 10ml of PMTD for every cow at every milking if dipping. Use the AHI Dairy Farm Calculator as a rough guide on the usage on farm.
2. COVER THE ENTIRE TEAT BARRELS
   Regularly assess the percentage of the teat barrels which are covered with PMTD. This can be done using the ‘Paper Towel Test’. Wrap a paper towel around a teat to assess coverage. A patchy pattern indicates incomplete teat coverage. A solid pattern indicates good teat coverage. This is where teat dipping wins. In contrast, this is achievable by applying PMTD using a sprayer in a circular motion, first clockwise, then anticlockwise. Regularly assess the application with automated systems. Many farms can fall down when applying PMTD to cows already in transit out of the parlour. It is often found that the front surfaces of the front teats are missed.
3. CONSISTENCY AT EVERY MILKING
   The value is clear and robustly backed up. Ensure there is a backup teat dip cup, and multiple functioning sprayers in the pit (one per four milking units is recommended) to reduce reliant on one piece of equipment. But make this practice a non-negotiable amongst all farm staff and relief milkers. Devote sufficient time to the best mastitis control measure on your dairy farm: Post-milking teat disinfection.

CellCheck Farm Guidelines for Mastitis Control Guidelines 7

CellCheck Farm Guidelines for Mastitis Control Guidelines 26

CellCheck Farm Guidelines for Mastitis Control Management Note I