Locations and Staff	Mission Statement	Vision Statement
Annual Report	QMPS News Articles	QMPS Internal Pages

The Quality Milk Production Services Program (QMPS) promotes the quality of milk by reducing mastitis levels in dairy herds. QMPS offers a variety of services, notably on-farm evaluations of management and equipment and whole herd milk cultures. Based on the findings, the program's extension veterinarians advise producers, veterinarians and milk inspectors regarding optimal practices for improving herd health and farm management. Quality Milk Production Services is making major contributions in the diagnosis, control and treatment of several causes of mastitis, including agents such as Streptococcus agalactiae, Staphylococcus aureus, Mycoplasma, Streptococcus spp., Staphylococcus spp. and coliform bacteria. Research continues on new methods of mastitis diagnosis, epidemiology, financial effects, nonantibiotic therapy, bacterins and association with stray voltage. QMPS is a program of the Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory in the Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences within the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University, and is supported by the Department of Agriculture and Markets of New York State. As the largest organized program of its type in the world, QMPS extends an array of services to clients within New York State as well as to other states and other countries worldwide. Click on the map to view information about our regional laboratories and staff or on the links below. (top)

Ithaca Laboratory | Geneseo Laboratory | Cobleskill Laboratory | Canton Laboratory
Mission Statement (top) QMPS exists to meet the needs of producers, veterinarians and the dairy industry through on-farm service, diagnostics, education and research. We are a science-based organization utilizing the most effective methods and technology to help producers improve dairy product quality and safety. Our work contributes to consumer confidence in the dairy industry. We accomplish our goals through an environment that encourages teamwork and continuing education.
Vision Statement (top) We aim to be recognized as a definitive source of information on milk quality and food safety. We want to assist the dairy producer in achieving greater profitability through higher milk quality and improved herd health. We continue to improve team building and standards of excellence through improvement of communication and encouragement of personal growth.

2008 Annual Report (top)

Executive Summary

A Year of Accomplishments

I hope that you will enjoy reading about our efforts in 2008. This report should be approximately 20% thicker than last year’s report to correctly reflect the extra effort that was accomplished in this year. You will read about our efforts on the farms, in our laboratories, in our research projects and with our education programs. All of these have contributed to make 2008 our most productive year ever.

These activities also help the dairy industry in New York and the Northeast to become more competitive, produce better quality milk and produce safer food for consumers in our state, region and nation.

You will read about our development of a bulk milk monitoring program. This program makes use of an existing infrastructure of cold transport of milk samples to our laboratories to test for milk quality and animal health pathogens along with food safety pathogens.

Testing for food safety occurs with modern DNA technologies that provide fast feedback to our clients.

The staff effort and
enthusiasm are the main catalysts that make our
program flourish.

In our research efforts we study the presence of Listeria bacteria in bulk milk and help producers find methods to reduce bacterial load in the raw milk.

Working on the farms, testing milking equipment, taking milk samples, developing protocols, training staff, performing laboratory analysis and doing research allows our people to be able to go back to the farm with advice and suggestions, creating a full circle, with a center that is focused on service to the dairy industry.


I would like to draw your attention to the people that are behind all the work in this annual report. After all, it is ‘elbow grease’ that makes it happen. The staff effort and enthusiasm are the main catalysts that make our program flourish.

Thank you for taking time to learn about our work and I hope you enjoy the report.


Ynte Schukken, DVM, PhD
Director

_______________________________________________________________

Facts and Figures:
Milk samples cultured from surveys	137,650
Miscellaneous tests performed	14,435
Mycoplasma tests performed	39,485
Bulk Tank Cultures	3,427
TOTAL TESTS & SAMPLES	194,997
Farm Surveys	960

The regulatory portion of the program is mandated through the New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets, Division of Milk Control (Ref. 1NYCRR PART 2 of the Agriculture & Markets Law relating to the Requirements for the Production, Processing and Distribution of Grade A Milk and Milk Products; Sections 2.8 and 2.60).

AHDC Laboratory Groundbreaking
On May 22, 2008 a groundbreaking ceremony was held to commemorate the start of the building activities for the new Animal Health Diagnostic Center (AHDC) on the Cornell Campus. The QMPS Ithaca laboratory will be joining with the other AHDC laboratory sections at this new home when construction is finished. The opening of the building is planned for the spring of 2010. Cornell University President Skorton and Veterinary College Dean Kotlikoff spoke at the opening where the latter highlighted the value of the QMPS Program as an important service to the dairy industry.

Service
Service to our stakeholders is one of the main statements of the QMPS mission statement. We have highlighted several areas of service that were outstanding this past year.

Dairy Facility Bedding Culturing and Development
During 2008, QMPS worked with numerous dairy producers and herd veterinarians to assess the quality of the bedding used for housing dairy animals. Quantitative bedding cultures provide valuable information for reducing the level of environmental mastitis present on dairy farms. In addition, QMPS has assisted several commercial companies in the development of alternative bedding products and bedding conditioners designed to reduce the presence of environmental pathogens.

Quality Assurance
During 2008, QMPS actively participated in the process of the AHDC to finally obtain accreditation by the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians.  Also, QMPS continued working towards the accreditation of its Ithaca Microbiology Laboratory by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).  The process will be completed in 2009.  The Quality Manual for ISO 17025 accreditation as well as Quality System, Standard Operating, and Work Area Procedures were reviewed and updated.  Other work areas of QMPS such as field and veterinary services, administration and the three remaining regional microbiology diagnostic laboratories began implementing quality assurance procedures in 2008.  This tedious but important work will continue during 2009.

Molecular Laboratory Test Certification
The Molecular Laboratory achieved great success this year with the validation of the foodborne pathogen diagnostic test for bulk tank milk.  The test targets three of the most common pathogens implicated in milk-related illness: Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, and shiga-toxin producing Escherichia coli, by using DNA-based real-time PCR technology.  Regular testing serves as an early-warning system for potential compromises in milk quality and also allows farmers to monitor trends in foodborne pathogen presence or absence.  Our hope is to add Campylobacter, the most common cause of foodborne infection in the United States, to our test in 2009.

Teaching & Outreach
Knowledge transfer and education is recognized as an important responsibility and is reflected in our work, both within the program and also to our stakeholders.



Company Retreat
QMPS retreat focused on customer service, an area identified by multiple sources as being in need of improvement.  This retreat was one of the highest ranked by QMPS employees.  Jim Sheridan, a Senior Trainer at Cornell University’s Office of Organizational Development Services, provided workshops for both management and staff.  The sessions focused on the management and implementation of both internal and external customer service.  They were specifically designed to bring management and staff together in developing a clear customer service strategy with the comfort of knowing that all levels would be supporting its implementation.  In addition, all QMPS employees completed the Meyers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).  QMPS is now in the process of finalizing a customer service strategy document and will be conducting more advanced workshops during 2009.

Corporate Training
QMPS conducted four “Culture for the Cure” Workshops in partnership with a corporate entity. The 50 workshop attendees were veterinarians, veterinary technicians and staff from dairy herds. Veterinary practices provide milk culturing as a value-added service for dairy clients. Herd owners use the information to make more effective treatment decisions and reduce treatment costs associated with mastitis. Reduced antimicrobial use on farms in turn reduces the pressure for the development of antimicrobial resistance, the risk for drug residues in milk and improves food safety of dairy products.

Vet Med 704 Course
For the 20th consecutive year, QMPS offered an intensive VM704 Milk Quality Elective course for veterinary students in the last year of their studies. From July 28th through August 8th, 11 students attended the course as well as three graduate students.  The course faculty presented a wide variety of topics and teams of four to five students visited and evaluated three dairy farms for mastitis management and milk quality.  Students’ grades were based on an oral presentation of the farms’ evaluations, which were attended by the respective dairy farm owners and managers, and a thorough final exam.  Students’ evaluation of the course ranged from very good to excellent.

Language Services
QMPS completed its eighth year of the Language Services program which includes on-farm customized Milker Training, translation of farm documents and staff meetings, development of on-farm educational materials and Spanish classes focusing on communicating within the dairy industry, safety training and cultural training for farm producers.  We collaborated with NYCAMH to provide on-farm safety training focusing on hazard communication relating to farm chemicals and working safely with animals and also provided a dairy industry customized Spanish class for Cornell’s Summer Dairy Institute.

Research & Development
The contribution of applied research to QMPS income, employment, and fulfillment of its mission has grown considerably in recent years. We have presented you with a snapshot of our activities this past year.

Milk Quality on Organic Farms
Milk quality data from 104 commercial organic dairies were obtained from two major organic processors in New York for the calendar year 2007, representing about half the organic dairies in the state. These farms collectively produced 58.3 million pounds of milk.  For the combined data, mean Somatic Cell Count (SCC) was 280,000 cells/ml and mean Standard Plate Count (SPC) was 7,500 cfu/ml.  In these data, 51% of herds had an average SCC for the year that was less than 250,000 cells/ml and 61% of herds had an average SPC less than 5,000 cfu/ml.

Bulk Milk Surveillance Program
Food safety, emerging animal diseases and bioterrorism threats have the potential of contributing to market volatility, producing unfavorable consumer reactions and contributing to industry frustrations. The dairy industry strives to meet high demands, expectations, and standards with regard to animal health, food quality, and food safety.  The Bulk Tank Surveillance Program sponsored by the NYS Department of Ag & Markets allows dairy producers to send an extra bulk tank sample with their milk hauler to be tested for animal health pathogens such as Bovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD), mastitis pathogens, and foodborne pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes.  Bulk tank monitoring is an easy, timely, and inexpensive monitoring tool for dairy farm managers.  Additionally, the program is working to set up an emergency preparedness framework for the dairy industry.

Klebsiella Research
The severity of Klebsiella mastitis along with the lack of effective treatments, usually results in high culling rates or death of affected cows. For these reasons, during the last five years QMPS has done extensive research on the epidemiology of Klebsiella mastitis.  We have found that Klebsiella shed in feces of healthy cows usually results in contamination of organic or inorganic bedding materials and facilities.  We have also found that the prevalence of Klebsiella on teat ends after the pre-milking udder preparation is greatly associated with the udder cleanliness of dairy cows. This shows that Klebsiella exposure to teat ends and subsequent Klebsiella mastitis could be lessened by improving the cleanliness of cows and dairy operations. Not all Klebsiella intramammary infections seem to evolve in the same way.  Chronic and acute Klebsiella mastitis may be associated to some strain-specific virulence factors. Our Klebsiella research received funding from the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program.

Listeria Research
QMPS, in conjunction with the USDA-RDQMA teams, has been working to understand the ecology of L. monocytogenes on dairy farms and the potential sources of this organism in bulk tank milk.  The presence of biofilms, which is a group of bacteria attached to a surface by a “glue-like” substance, in the milking equipment was suggested as the potential sources.  Listeria can detach from biofilms into the milking machine causing contamination of the milk. Hygiene in the milking routine, correct cleaning of milking machines and replacing plastic materials in the milking equipment on a regular basis would help dairy producers prevent biofilms and fulfill the need for healthier and better quality milk.

Streptococcus Research
In 2008, QMPS launched a new service to its customers. All clinical mastitis samples where Streptococcus species other than Strep. agalactiae were the primary agent were further evaluated to identify the specific species causing the mastitis. At the same time, this diagnostic effort was part of a large field study where QMPS collaborated with a veterinary clinic. The laboratory in the clinic was very successful in incorporating Streptococcus speciation into their day-to-day practice. The producers that received the additional information also received specific treatment advice for each Streptococcus infection. Producers were very satisfied with the additional service and all pledged to continue to use the added information.

Economics of repeated clinical mastitis
A collaborative project with Dr Yrjö Gröhn and Dr Loren Tauer and their research groups was very active in 2008. The research was funded through the USDA and focused on repeated cases of clinical mastitis. This relates to cows that had more than one case of clinical mastitis in the same lactation. These repeated cases are often ignored, but our data indicated that they have as equal a cost to the producer as a first case in lactation. Repeated cases are equally severe as it relates to both milk production loss (see figure, each arrow indicates a case of clinical mastitis) and loss due to death or culling. Economic models that were built using the data from our study farms confirm that the advice to cull a cow when she has had three cases of clinical mastitis in the same lactation is the economically optimal strategy. Several of the scientific publications of our staff this year resulted from this project.

 

 

 

Infection dynamics in two dairy herds
Data collection has now been completed and Dr. Barlow, in collaboration with Dr. Zadoks, was able to secure additional funding from the USDA grant program for molecular diagnostics.  Results are currently being submitted to peer-reviewed publications and a paper on the infection dynamics of Q-fever has now been published in the Journal of Veterinary Research. A second paper on modeling of infection in dairy herds and a third paper on the molecular epidemiology of Staphylococcus aureus have also been submitted. A fourth paper on the molecular epidemiology of streptococcal infections is in preparation.

Chronic Coliform Mastitis
Researchers from QMPS and Cornell University Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences have joined to examine the question of udder inflammatory response to coliform infection during the dry period. This team is working to address the problem of coliform mastitis during the dry period and early lactation by examining how the udder responds to bacterial infection during these critical stages. Several challenge studies have now been completed and the first manuscript is currently in draft format.

Dynamics of infectious diseases on dairy farms
QMPS continues to be an important player in the ongoing Regional Dairy Quality Management Alliance (RDQMA) Research Project. One of the objectives of the project is to track endemic disease dynamics on northeast dairy herds with well-characterized animals and herd management practices. More than four years of sampling has been completed on the research farm in New York, coordinated by QMPS personnel. Precise data are collected with regard to the health status of animals and the quality of their milk and meat products. Results from this study have recently been published in various peer-reviewed journals and multiple publications and creation of extension CD for regional extension offices are currently in the planning phase.

Publications
Andrew SM, Moyes KM, Borm AA, Fox LK, Leslie KE, Hogan JS, Oliver SP, Schukken YH, Owens WE, Norman C.  Factors associated with the risk of antibiotic residues and intramammary pathogen presence in milk from heifers administered prepartum intramammary antibiotic therapy. Vet Microbiol. 2008 Sep 12. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 18945559 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Bar D, Gröhn YT, Bennett G, González RN, Hertl JA, Schulte HF, Tauer LW, Welcome FL, Schukken YH.  Effects of repeated episodes of generic clinical mastitis on mortality and culling in dairy cows. J Dairy Sci. 2008 Jun;91(6):2196-204. PMID: 18487642 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Bar D, Tauer LW, Bennett G, González RN, Hertl JA, Schukken YH, Schulte HF, Welcome FL, Gröhn YT.  The cost of generic clinical mastitis in dairy cows as estimated by using dynamic programming. J Dairy Sci. 2008 Jun;91(6):2205-14. PMID: 18487643 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Bar D, Tauer LW, Bennett GJ, González RN, Hertl JA, Schulte HF, Schukken YH, Welcome FL, Gröhn YT.  Use of a dynamic programming model to estimate the value of clinical mastitis treatment and prevention options utilized by dairy producers.  J Agr Syst 2008 (in press).

Barlow J, Rauch B, Welcome F, Kim SG, Dubovi E, Schukken Y.  Association between Coxiella burnetii shedding in milk and subclinical mastitis in dairy cattle. Vet Res. 2008 May-Jun;39(3):23. Epub 2008 Feb 7. PMID: 18252189 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Benedictus A, Mitchell RM, Linde-Widmann M, Sweeney R, Fyock T, Schukken YH, Whitlock RH.  Transmission parameters of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis infections in a dairy herd going through a control program. Prev Vet Med. 2008 Mar 17;83(3-4):215-27. Epub 2007 Sep 14. PMID: 17868937 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Chapagain PP, van Kessel JS, Karns JS, Wolfgang DR, Hovingh E, Nelen KA, Schukken YH, Grohn YT.  A mathematical model of the dynamics of Salmonella Cerro infection in a US dairy herd. Epidemiol Infect. 2008 Feb;136(2):263-72. Epub 2007 Apr 20. PMID: 17445313 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

De Vliegher S., Zadoks RN, and Barkema HW. 2008. Heifer and CNS mastitis. Veterinary Microbiology. doi:10.1016/j.vetmic.2008.09.016

Döpfer, D.,Buist W, Soyer Y, Munoz MA, Zadoks RN, Geue L and Engel B. 2008. Assessing Genetic Heterogeneity Within Bacterial Species Isolated From Gastro-Intestinal And Environmental Samples: How Many Isolates Does It Take? Applied and Environmental Microbiology 74:3490-3496.

González RN.  The importance of laboratory diagnosis in mastitis and milk quality, in Proceedings.  XXIV International Conference for Dairy Cattle, Guadalajara, Mexico, 2008; 63-71.

Lang P, Lefébure T, Wang W, Zadoks RN, Schukken Y, Stanhope MJ.  Gene content differences across strains of Streptococcus uberis identified using oligonucleotide microarray comparative genomic hybridization. Infect Genet Evol. 2008 Nov 14. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 19056519 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Latorre AA, Van Kessel JA, Karns JS, Zurakowski MJ, Pradhan AK, Zadoks RN, Boor KJ, Schukken YH.  Molecular Ecology of Listeria monocytogenes on a Dairy Farm: Evidence for a Reservoir in Milking Equipment. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2008 Dec 29. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 19114514 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Lu Z, Mitchell RM, Smith RL, Van Kessel JS, Chapagain PP, Schukken YH, Grohn YT.  The importance of culling in Johne's disease control. J Theor Biol. 2008 Sep 7;254(1):135-46. Epub 2008 May 16. PMID: 18573505 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Mitchell RM, Whitlock RH, Stehman SM, Benedictus A, Chapagain PP, Grohn YT, Schukken YH.  Simulation modeling to evaluate the persistence of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) on commercial dairy farms in the United States. Prev Vet Med. 2008 Mar 17;83(3-4):360-80. Epub 2007 Nov 26. PMID: 18022716 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Munoz MA, Bennett GJ, Ahlström C, Griffiths HM, Schukken YH, Zadoks RN.  Cleanliness scores as indicator of Klebsiella exposure in dairy cows. J Dairy Sci. 2008 Oct;91(10):3908-16. PMID: 18832213 [PubMed - in process]

Nightingale C, Dhuyvetter K, Mitchell R, Schukken Y.  Influence of variable milk quality premiums on observed milk quality. J Dairy Sci. 2008 Mar;91(3):1236-44. PMID: 18292282 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Pradhan A, Van Kessel JS, Karns JS, Wolfgang DR, Hovingh E, Nelen KA, Smith JM, Whitlock RH, Fyock T, Ladely S, Fedorka-Cray PJ, Schukken YH.  Dynamics of Endemic Infectious Diseases of Animal and Human Importance on Three Dairy Herds in the Northeastern US. J Dairy Sci. 2008 [In press, doi:10.3168/jds.2008-1486].

Sampimon OC., R. N. Zadoks, S. De Vliegher, K. Supré, F. Haesebrouck, H. W. Barkema, J. Sol and T.J.G.M. Lam. 2008. Performance of API Staph ID 32 and Staph-Zym for identification of coagulase-negative staphylococci isolated from bovine milk samples. Veterinary Microbiology. doi:10.1016/j.vetmic.2008.11.004.

Schukken YH, González RN, Tikofsky LL, Schulte HF, Santisteban CG, Welcome FL, Bennett GJ, Zurakowski MJ, Zadoks RN.  CNS mastitis: Nothing to worry about? Vet Microbiol. 2008 Sep 11. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 18842362 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Van Kessel JS, Karns JS, Wolfgang DR, Hovingh E, Jayarao BM, Van Tassell CP, Schukken YH.  Environmental sampling to predict fecal prevalence of Salmonella in an intensively monitored dairy herd. J Food Prot. 2008 Oct;71(10):1967-73. PMID: 18939739 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Wilson DJ, Grohn YT, Bennett GJ, González RN, Schukken YH, Spatz J.  Milk production change following clinical mastitis and reproductive performance compared among J5 vaccinated and control dairy cattle. J Dairy Sci. 2008 Oct;91(10):3869-79. PMID: 18832209 [PubMed - in process]

Wilson DJ, Mallard BA, Burton JL, Schukken YH, Grohn YT. J5 -Specific Serum Antibody Responses were Associated with Clinical Mastitis Outcome for J5 Vaccinate and Control Dairy Cattle. Clin Vaccine Immunol. 2008 Dec 3. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 19052158 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Zadoks RN. and J. L. Watts. 2008. Species identification of Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci: Genotyping is Superior to Phenotyping. Veterinary Microbiology (in press); doi:10.1016/j.vetmic.2008.09.012.