increase font size
Mastatest, is a patent-protected solution that provides dairy farmers and vets with easy, accurate, and rapid bovine mastitis diagnoses.
With mastitis being a drain on production, resources and animal health any tools that help dairy farmers to quickly detect the problem, particularly that of subclinical cases, will help dairy farmers maintain a healthy bottom line.
Mastatest is a patentprotected solution that is said to provide dairy farmers and vets with easy, accurate, and rapid bovine mastitis diagnoses, produced by Mastaplex, a company founded on the back of initial research carried out at the University of Otago.
Said to simplify the decision on how to treat a mastitis cases, to improve the health of a herd, the system offers automated diagnostics, with results by e-mail within 24 hours, removing the need for the plating of milk samples or the need to interpret culture results.
The system can be used daily for cows with clinical or subclinical mastitis, to provide data informing users of the presence, or absence of bacteria, the type of bacterial species and also helping to identify cows that don’t need antibiotic treatment, so avoiding a milk withholding period.
On the farm, milk from suspect animals is placed in the testing cartridge, before being placed in the Lapbox. The science behind the Mastatest system captures colour change phenomena with an electronic eye. Resultant data is transmitted to the cloud, via the Lapbox, where analytical algorithms take over to interpret the results. Those results are said to help users select of the right antibiotic for each cow, helping to improve cure rates and reduce their time out of the herd.
During the development and testing phase, seven spring calving pastoral dairy herds from the Canterbury and Otago regions of New Zealand were selected from farms serviced by Vetlife New Zealand Ltd. All farms were chosen based on the fact that they had expressed interest in on-farm diagnosis for mastitis, were prepared to follow the study protocol and contributed towards the funding of the project as part of their annual veterinary fee.
Across the seven farms, out of the 6467 cows calving, 608 cows and 648 quarters were diagnosed with clinical mastitis by farm staff. Overall, complete data records were available for 259 quarters in the NS group and 276 quarters in the selective group. These quarters were from 471 cows with a single quarter affected, 29 cows with two quarters affected and two cows with three quarters affected.
A summary of the resultant data found the use of an on-farm diagnostic system to inform therapeutic choice for mild to moderate clinical mastitis reduced the use of antimicrobials by 24% with no evidence detected for a difference in bacteriological cure at 21 days, clinical recurrence within 60 days, ISCC measured 30–35 days before dryoff or days milk withheld from sale.
Milton dairy farmer Chris Wills says he began using probiotics in spring 2023 to address somatic cell count (SCC) grades when cows transitioned from their winter barn to lush spring pasture.
The arrival of new F8 and F9 designations for its 8000 and 9000 series forage harvesters, signals a swag of upgrades from John Deere, highlighted by topping the 1000hp mark for the first time.
Waikato-Bay of Plenty farmer Hugh Jackson recently secured this year’s FMG Young Farmer of the Year title in Invercargill.
Ashburton-based Carrfields has signed an agreement with Manitou to take over the distribution and retail rights for Manitou Agricultural Equipment covering the lower North Island and the South Island, effective August 1, 2025.
Treat your farm boundary like a border. This was one of the messages delivered to farmers at a recent Beef + Lamb New Zealand Protect Your Patch workshop in Lincoln.
DairyNZ is giving New Zealand farmers a unique opportunity to gain hands-on governance and leadership experience within the dairy sector.
Herd improvement company LIC has posted a 5.2% lift in half-year revenue, thanks to increasing demand for genetics.
According to the latest Fresh Produce Trend Report from United Fresh, 2026 will be a year where fruit and vegetables are shaped by cost pressures, rapid digital adoption, and a renewed focus on wellbeing at home.
The Roar is a highlight of the game hunting calendar in New Zealand, with thousands of hunters set to head for the hills to hunt male stags during March and April.
OPINION: The past few weeks have been tough on farms across the North Island: floods and storms have caused damage and disruption to families and businesses.
European dairy giant Arla Foods celebrated its 25th anniversary as a cross-border, farmer-owned co-operative with a solid half-year result.
OPINION: Fonterra may be on the verge of selling its consumer business in New Zealand, but the co-operative is not…
OPINION: What does the birth rate in China have to do with stock trading? Just ask a2 Milk Company.
