In other regions it means cool temperatures and increased amounts of rain and lots of muddy, wet conditions. Both situations provide challenges in terms of mastitis control which managers must attempt to minimize. C ertain winter conditions may actually provide some relief for mastitis issues only to be offset by other issues that increase mastitis risks. Very cold conditions for example may slow the growth rate of environmental bacteria in cold housing areas which helps but cold may lead to teat skin problems which hurts in the battle against mastitis. Winter Skin Problems W inter, in areas where it gets very cold and sometimes quite dry, poses serious problems for teat skin.
Skin protects the body against bacterial infection so long as it is intact.
When damaged, for whatever reason, the situation changes and risk of infection quickly rises. A s cold weather sets in several different issues often arise. Two different viral conditions, Pseudocowpox and Herpes mammilitis, frequently appear as temperatures fall. Cold somehow acts as a trigger mechanism causing them to show-up on certain cows. They express themselves on teat skin tissue as sores or lesions that are often quite large and may extend down to the teat end.