Control of environmental mastitis remains a problem on many modern
dairy
farms. These infections are often transmitted between milkings, and milking
hygiene
will not prevent new infection. Consequently, the control of environmental
mastitis
has prompted dairy managers to develop new approaches that either limit
bacterial
contamination of teat ends between milkings or directly increase the cow's
resistance
to infection. Intervention strategies that may decrease the incidence of
environmental
mastitis include improved sanitation of housing areas, decreased water
use in udder preparation, optimal dietary concentrations of vitamin E and
selenium,
and use of R-mutant vaccines (Smith et al. 1984, 1985;
Weiss et al. 1990; Smith & Hogan, 1993; Tyler et al.
1993).
Dairy managers are encouraged to provide cows with clean, fresh, palatable
feed
immediately after milking. This practice is thought to provide cows with
an incentive
to remain standing for an extended interval, permit teat sphincters to
close, and limit
teat end contamination and new infections when cows lie down. In one recent
study,
cows that had access to feed remained standing for a significantly longer
time than
did cows that were denied access to feed (48 v.
21 min; Tyler et al. 1997). The purpose
of the present study was to substantiate that feed availability could be
used to
extend postmilking standing time in a larger population of cows maintained
under
different management conditions.