The Spanish organization for cattle veterinarians (ANEMBE) held her Annual meeting last week in Santander, Spain. I had the honour to be invited to give a presentation on economics of mastitis. Mastitis is a disease that is occurring on every dairy farm in the world. Every farmer is also taking preventive measures against the disease. However, more prevention is possible. Since farming is a business, economics do play a role in the decision whether or not to apply more preventive measures. This presentation gives an overview of the failure costs of masitis (of which quite some estimates are available) as well as some knowledge on optimizing the level of prevention. A large part of the work in this presentation has been presented before. However, the work on total costs of mastitis (failure costs as well as preventive costs) is novel.

1. Supporting farmers with mastitis decisions
Henk Hogeveen

2. Who am I
 Farm boy (dairy farm, 45 cows)
 Animal science at Wageningen Univesity
● Epidemiology (simulation model of management around
cystic ovaries)
● Economics (long term effect of herd health management
programs)
 PhD at Vet Medicine (AI programs to diagnose mastitis)
 Working in field of animal health management
In between Wageningen University and Faculty of Vet. Med.
● @henkhogeveen
● animal-health-management.blogspot.com

3. Mastitis is …….
 A welfare problem
 A production problem
 A nuisance to the farmers
 An economic problem
 Decision making is weighting these aspects and choose
that option that gives the highest fulfillment of goals

4. What to expect?
 Mastitis from an economic perspective
 Costs of mastitis
● Farmers own estimation
 Benefits of improved management
 Economics as motivator
 Conclusions

5. Economics of mastitis
Dairy farm
Input Output
Capital Main product
Buildings Milk
Equipment
Side products
Feedstuffs
Health care Calves
….. Meat
…..
Labour
After: McInerney, 1996
Land

6. Economics of mastitis
Other input
Capital
Labour
Land
Dairy farm Dairy processor Consumption
Input Output Output Satis-
Capital Main product Fresh milk faction
Buildings Milk
Equipment
Cheese
Side products Deserts
Feedstuffs
Health care Calves ……
….. Meat
…..
Labour
Land

7. Economics of mastitis
Other input
Capital
Labour
Land
Dairy farm Dairy processor Consumption
Input Output Output Satis-
Capital Main product Fresh milk faction
Buildings Milk
Equipment
Cheese
Side products Deserts
Feedstuffs
Health care Calves ……
….. Meat
…..
Labour
Land
Mastitis

8. Economics of mastitis
Other input
Capital
Labour
Land
Dairy farm Dairy processor Consumption
Input Output Output Satis-
Capital Main product Fresh milk faction
Buildings Milk
Equipment
Cheese
Side products Deserts
Feedstuffs
Health care Calves ……
….. Meat
…..
Labour
Land
1. Lower efficiency
Mastitis

9. Economics of mastitis
Other input
Capital
Labour
Land
Dairy farm Dairy processor Consumption
Input Output Output Satis-
Capital Main product Fresh milk faction
Buildings Milk
Equipment
Cheese
Side products Deserts
Feedstuffs
Health care Calves ……
….. Meat
…..
Labour
Land
1. Lower efficiency
2. Lower suitability for
processing
Mastitis

10. Economics of mastitis
Other input
Capital
Labour
Land
Dairy farm Dairy processor Consumption
Input Output Output Satis-
Capital Main product Fresh milk faction
Buildings Milk
Equipment
Cheese
Side products Deserts
Feedstuffs
Health care Calves ……
….. Meat
…..
Labour
Land
1. Lower efficiency
2. Lower suitability for
processing
3. Less satisfaction
Mastitis

11. Economics of mastitis
Other input
Capital
Labour
Land
Dairy farm Dairy processor Consumption
Input Output Output Satis-
Capital Main product Fresh milk faction
Buildings Milk
Equipment
Cheese
Side products Deserts
Feedstuffs
Health care Calves ……
….. Meat
…..
Labour
Land
1. Lower efficiency
2. Lower suitability for
processing
3. Less satisfaction
4. Lower societal value Mastitis

12. Effects
 Lower efficiency
 Lower suitability for processing
 Less satisfaction
 Lower societal value

13. What to expect?
 Mastitis from an economic perspective
 Costs of mastitis
● Farmers own estimation
 Benefits of improved management
 Economics as motivator
 Conclusions

14. Recent literature (€)
Bar Halasa Hagnestam-Nielsen Huijps
2012 2009 2009 2008
Level Cow Cow Cow-year Cow
Milk production losses - 11 78 36
Labour - 11 - 4
Treatment - 14 - 15
Culling - 46 - 22
Death - 0 - 0
Veterinarian - 2 - 1
Milk quality - 0 - 0
Materials - 0 - 0
Diagnostics - 0 - 0
Total 61 84 97 78

15. Spain (€) Using tool: www.bec.wur.nl -> research -> decision support tools
Spain Spain 2012 Huijps
2012 2008
Level Herd (150) Cow Cow
Milk production losses 21,344 143 36
Labour 878 6 4
Treatment 13,280 89 15
Culling 3,040 20 22
Death - - 0
Veterinarian 120 1 1
Milk quality 0 - 0
Materials 0 - 0
Diagnostics 0 - 0
Total 38,661 258 78

16. Differences
Netherlands Spain
Incidence clin mastitis (cases/100 cows/year 30 78
Costs milk prod. losses (€/kg) 0.12 0.27
BMSCC (*1,000 cells/ml) 220 230
Visit costs (€/visit) 20 20
Drug costs (€/treatment) 20 60
Value labour (€/hour) 18 10
Culling costs (€/culled case) 480 380

17. Research
 Default cost calculations
● Based on literature and expertise
● Clinical mastitis: Yearly incidence
● Subclinical mastitis: Bulk milk somatic cell count
● Conservative estimations
 Data collection
● 64 dairy farms
● Data entry at “open farm days”
● Assistance from researcher

18. Theory vs practise (€/cow/year)
Farm specific
Default
Mean Low High
Production losses subclinical 16 36 6.8 72.4
Production losses clinical 23 10 2.5 22
Veterinarian (€/cow/year) 0.3 0.6 0 2.5
Drugs 6 10.6 3.5 26.7
Discarded milk 9 7.9 2.5 17.9
Culling 22 17.9 0 46
Penalties 0 0.30 0 2.4
Labor 4 3.8 0 15
Total economic losses 81 78 31.4 153.8

19. What’s behind this
Farm specific
Default Mean Low High
Costs milk prod. losses (€/kg) 0.12 0.07 0.03 0.10
Visit costs (€/visit) 20 24 0 67.8
Drug costs (€/treatment) 20 33 17.5 73.5
Value labour (€/hour) 18 19 0 30
Culling costs (€/culled case) 480 383 0 750

20. Real vs expected costs (n=64)
200
180
160
5 good estimators
140
Real costs (€/cow)
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Expected costs (€ per cow)

21. Too high estimation
200
180
160
13 over
140
estimators
Real costs (€/cow)
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Expected costs (€ per cow)

22. Too low estimation
200
180
160
140
Real costs (€/cow)
120
100
80
60
46 under
40
estimators!!!!!
20
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Expected costs (€ per cow)

23. What to expect?
 Mastitis from an economic perspective
 Costs of mastitis
● Farmers own estimation
 Benefits of improved management
 Economics as motivator
 Conclusions

24. Prevention
 Effectiveness of management is important to know
● Lack of clinical trials
● Only on treatments (AB, dipping, etc.)
● Based on expertise estimates have been made (Huijps et
al., 2010).
● Underestimation of effectiveness by veterinarians?
● Preventive programs do work (Green et al., 2009)

25. Costs of mastitis, prevention
 Half definition until now
 Definition of costs of an animal disease (McInerny et al., 1992):
Costs = Losses + Expenditures
●Loss : Benefit taken away (milk production, culling)
●Expenditures : Extra input into livestock production
(treatment and preventive measures)
 My definition
●Failure costs: Costs associated with occurrence of
mastitis
●Preventive costs: Costs associated with prevention

26. Introduction Optimal prevention
Failure
Costs
Preventive costs

27. Study into total costs of mastitis on Dutch
dairy farms
 Questionaire dataset of 189 farms (Santman-Berends et al., 2011)
● General questions
● Livestock management
● Lactating cows
● Milking process
● Feed
 Pathogens and clinical mastitis on 120 farms
 MPR data
 Calculations of failure costs clinical mastitis, subclinical
mastitis

28. Preventive measures
 Cleaning cubicles
 Cleaning lanes
 Drying off
 Pre-stripping
 Clean dirty udders
 Milker gloves
 Clean cluster after clinical case
 Milk high SCC cow last
 Post milking teat disinfection
 Fixing cows after milking

29. Total costs mastitis (€/cow)
Average 5% 95%
percentile percentile
Clinical mastitis 62 16 151
Subclinical mastitis 14 9 21
Failure costs mastitis 76 26 164
Prevention costs 88 43 131
Costs of masitits 164 99 281

30. Failure costs vs preventive costs

31. What to expect?
 Mastitis from an economic perspective
 Costs of mastitis
● Farmers own estimation
 Benefits of improved management
 Economics as motivator
 Conclusions

32. Economics as motivator
 Study to investigate (quantify) farmers motivative factors for a
change in mastitis management
 With special attention to bonus vs penalty system
 Conjoint analysis, 100 farmers
● Systematically varying the motivation features in a
questionnaire
● Measuring the preferences of the farmer
● Calculate preferences for individual features
Source: Valeeva et al., 2007

33. Features of motivation
Are you motivated to change your mastitis management to
decrease the BMSCC if:
● It leads to better cow health/welfare
● You will get a financial reward (bonus/penalty)
● 50 farmers question as bonus
● 50 farmers question as penalty
● It is easier to fulfill legal requirements
● Your pleasure in work increases
● It leads to lower economic losses
● You get recognition
● The quality of the dairy products are better

34. Motivative factors
Premium (n = 40) Penalty (n = 43)
Job satisfaction 17.41a (1) 14.90agij (2)
Overall situation on the farm 15.81abc (2) 14.89bfhj (3)
Economic losses 14.23bdgj (3) 14.39abcehi(4)
Animal health and welfare consciousness 13.95cfgh (4) 14.51ck (5)
Ease in meeting regulatory requirements 12.45def (5) 9.59d (6)
Extra financial incentive based on bulk milk
SCC 11.35ehij (6) 16.43efgk (1)
Dairy product quality and image 8.63i (7) 8.66d (7)
Recognition for a job well done 6.13 (8) 6.63 (8)
Total 100.00 100.00

35. Clusters
 3 clusters could be distinguished
● Farmers motivated by Premium/penalties
● Farmers motivated by an Efficient (well-organized
farm) that easily complies with regulations
● Farmers motivated by basic economics
 No relation between cluster and other variables

36. There is more than economics
 Attitude explains mastitis situation (Jansen et al., 2009)
 Campaigns do have an influence (Jansen et al., 2010)
 Cost factors are not regarded as being equal (Huijps et al, 2009)
 Sometimes farmers behave irrational (Huijps et al., 2010)

37. What to expect?
 Mastitis from an economic perspective
 Costs of mastitis
● Farmers own estimation
 Benefits of improved management
 Economics as motivator
 Conclusions

38. Economics to support decisions
 Mastitis costs money
● Most expensive cattle disease present
● Many new studies; failure costs:€ 80-100/cow/year)
● Spain € 258/cow/year ??
● Total costs (including prevention) is much higher
● Differences and underestimation between farmers -> farm
specific calculations
 Decision support is weighing costs of prevention vs reduction of
failure costs
● That is up to you, veterinarians!!!
● Tool on www.bec.wur.nl -> research -> decision support tools
 More than only money to motivate farmers

39. Thank you for your attention