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.

2007 Annual Report (top)

Executive Summary

Reflections

Thank you for picking up this annual report. You will see that we are a very dynamic organization. In the preparation of this annual report, we had to make some tough decisions in terms of what to put in and what to leave out.

This has been a good year for the dairy industry and QMPS.  The number of samples cultured, tests and farm surveys performed was similar to previous years.  However, the number of consultations, programs offered to veterinarians, technicians and farm personnel in laboratory and field procedures, and customized milker trainings in English and Spanish increased dramatically in 2007.  All of these contributed to QMPS achieving the highest income ever for a calendar year.  Many new programs flourished in 2007 and they promise to be of continuous value for years to come.

The activities of the molecular laboratory are probably the most outstanding in their growth during 2007. Several projects with important results have come out of this laboratory. There is a large farm study on a Klebsiella mastitis outbreak, there are several studies on the ecology of Klebsiella on New York dairy farms, there is the development of rapid testing for food safety pathogens such as Listeria spp., Salmonella spp. and Escherichia coli, and development of a streptococcus speciation scheme to name just a few. So, it was with mixed feelings that we were informed at the end of the year that the director of this laboratory, Dr. Ruth Zadoks, has accepted a chair at the University of Edinburgh. We are very proud that one of our staff makes this amazing jump in her career but at the same time sad to see such an important team member go. We wish her very well in her future career.

Another area of tremendous growth this year has been the education related activities. Our education group organized several in-house training courses, a very large state-wide effort where hundreds of farmers were reached, continuing education programs, speaking arrangements throughout the country and around the world.  We have produced a large number of education materials to address the enormous hunger for knowledge on milk quality.  We are proud of the fact that we are in a position to help people meet their educational needs.

Finally, it is so important to recognize all the work that goes into visiting thousands of farms, talking to many farmers on the phone, writing letters, analyzing over 150,000 milk samples performing diagnostic tests, and then putting all these things into computers which then translate into reports. Our staff is wonderful and makes all this happen on a daily basis. The rewards are very visible though, as New York continues to be the state with the best milk quality among the major dairy states in the nation. Of course, our dairy producers and their staff make that happen but we do like to believe that we contribute a bit to this.

Enjoy your excursion through our 2007 efforts!

Ynte Schukken, DVM, PhD
Director

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Service

The Service Committee was established to review and provide recommendations of new service endeavors, work with Quality Assurance to ensure consistency of service and product output, assist in communication between regional laboratories and personnel, and reduce bottlenecks in the provision of our services provided. This committee has been effective in organizing both large and small service projects between regional laboratories.

Facts and Figures:
Milk samples cultured from surveys	119,052
Miscellaneous tests performed	9,225
Mycoplasma tests performed	32,952
Bulk Tank Cultures	3,042
TOTAL TESTS & SAMPLES	164,271
Farm Surveys	1,003

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).

Quality Assurance Accreditation
Quality Milk, through the AHDC, has been involved in a continuous effort to obtain accreditation by the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD). Furthermore, QMPS is working towards the accreditation of its Ithaca Microbiology Laboratory by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in the winter-spring of 2008.  The ISO/IEC 17025:2005 is for use by laboratories in developing their management system for quality, administrative and technical operations.  Accreditation by ISO 17025 is a valuable component of quality assurance in diagnostic microbiology.  QMPS, with the help of Ms. Denise Archer (AHDC Quality Assurance Manager) has developed a QMPS Quality Manual for ISO 17025 accreditation as well as QMPS Quality System Procedures.  Ms. Belinda Gross, Mr. Brad Rauch, Dr. Carlos Santisteban and Dr. Rubén González are the QMPS taskforce executing necessary steps and will continue until completion.

Teaching & Outreach
Two of QMPS major responsibilities to the New York Dairy Industry are service and research.  Over the past year, with the creation of the QMPS Education Committee, knowledge transfer and education has been recognized as another important responsibility.  This committee works with sponsors and stakeholders to develop and deliver relevant programming.  Programming includes culture and technical workshops for industry representatives, educational workshops for farmers interested in organic milk production, milk quality and classes on udder health classes for the Wyoming Dairy Institute in Western New York and a pre-conference workshop at the annual National Mastitis Council meeting.

QM2
Starting this year two organizations presented themselves jointly in the QM2 newsletter in the NortheastDairy Business (NEDB) magazine.   Dairy One and QMPS have a common goal - to provide the best possible management support so dairy farmers can produce milk of the best possible quality. Publication of this newsletter is supported by Schering-Plough.  QM2, coined from Quality Management – Quality Milk, aims to bring news and information from these two organizations to the readers of NEDB. Experience has shown that Quality Management decisions are an absolute requirement for producing Quality Milk. We are also convinced that our combined efforts are more than a simple addition of services. Combining information from dairy records and software with milk quality and mastitis laboratory information leads to a multiplication of efforts: 10 and 10 is not 20 but more like 100 (QM2)!

Winter Dairy Management
From January through March, QMPS partnered with Pro-Dairy and Cornell Cooperative Extension to conduct a series of workshops throughout New York State.  These five hour meetings focused on the latest technical advances and current research findings on milk quality and udder health and provided attendees with practical tools to implement on their farms. 

In-House Veterinary Continuing Education
QMPS and Schering-Plough combined forces to offer an innovative In-House Veterinary Continuing Education program in milk quality, udder health, and mastitis diagnostics designed to fit the needs of veterinarians. Veterinary staff from QMPS and Schering-Plough will travel to veterinary facilities to present current science-based information, research, and diagnostic techniques to practicing veterinarians and staff. Each year different topics of discussion will be presented.

Research & Development
QMPS' core activities include field and laboratory services, education and research. The contribution of applied research to QMPS income, employment, and fulfillment of its mission has grown considerably in recent years. The objective of the QMPS Research Committee is to prioritize projects by evaluating their relevance to QMPS’ vision and mission. This committee also considers project management aspects, such as connection with other QMPS activities, feasibility and demand on QMPS resources. Representation consists of laboratory, field, and research staff from all geographic locations. Feedback is used to improve project design and assist QMPS management in deciding on project approval. The committee hopes to expand its role to include strategic planning for research directions.

Project Management
As the number and diversity of research and education projects continues to increase QMPS is seeing the benefits of its project management initiative, which is currently in full swing.  In 2005, QMPS had identified the need to better manage and prioritize projects.  In 2006, QMPS hired a Project Management Professional (PMP) and began to implement a project management system.  Throughout 2007, each new project allowed another facet of the system to either be put into place or be up-dated in order to make QMPS more efficient.  QMPS now has refined management structures for both the ‘initiation’ and ‘planning’ phases of projects.  At the end of 2007, a management structure for the ‘monitoring and control’ phase was initiated, which has helped QMPS to align resources.  In 2008, QMPS will update its monitoring and control procedures and will implement a management structure for the project ‘close-out’ phase.  This will allow QMPS to continually improve for years to come.  By 2009, QMPS will be fully vested in project management.  This will allow special projects and traditional service to not only function together, but to work synergistically to maximize our availability to clients and the knowledge we contribute to the dairy community.

Coxiella burnetii
Coxiella burnetii is an important human pathogen that is commonly isolated from dairy cattle, although the significance of infections in dairy cattle has received little attention in the United States.  In two separate studies, we identified an association between PCR-based detection of C. burnetii in milk and chronic subclinical mastitis in lactating dairy cows.  A key finding was that C. burnetii shedding in milk was associated with chronic subclinical mastitis in cows demonstrated to be free of infection caused by common aerobic mastitis pathogens. The finding that C. burnetii PCR status in milk is associated with an increase of SCC, an economically important milk quality measure and diagnostic tool for mastitis control, suggests that additional research is justified to evaluate the consequences of C. burnetii infections in dairy cattle.

Serratia
Serratia species are environmental pathogens that can cause mammary infection in dairy cows.  We studied culture negative and Serratia culture positive cows in 20 herds using DHI test data and compared survival rate, milk production, and somatic cell count (SCC) between the two groups.  Serratia infected cows did not display a statistically significant loss in milk production; however, SCC was significantly higher in Serratia positive cows. With regard to herd life, 45% of Serratia infected cows were either culled or removed from the herd compared to 20% of culture negative cows within one year.  The data indicates that Serratia detection in milk was associated with an increase in SCC and faster removal from the herd. However, no impact on milk production was observed.  

Klebsiella
Driven by questions from clients, QMPS has done a lot of research on Klebsiella mastitis in recent years. Klebsiella mastitis has become a big problem for dairy producers in New York. The severity of clinical episodes and lack of effective treatments for Klebsiella mastitis result in high mortality and high culling rates of affected cows. Wood byproducts, such as sawdust, that are used as bedding were long thought to be the main source of Klebsiella. We found that many healthy cows shed Klebsiella in their feces, which can result in contamination of any type of bedding material, water troughs, alleyways, etc. We also showed that udder cleanliness scores are associated with the prevalence of Klebsiella on teat ends after pre-milking udder preparation. Alley and animal hygiene are important and neglected areas of Klebsiella control. In 2007, our Klebsiella research received funding from the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program, Federal Formula Funds and the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Streptococcus Diagnostics
Streptococcus agalactiae is a well-known cause of contagious mastitis. There are many other Streptococcus species, some of which also cause mastitis. They are grouped together under the name "Strep. species" or "environmental streptococci". These names are somewhat misleading. The group includes Streptococcus and other families of bacteria, such as Enterococcus species. Furthermore, some so-called environmental streptococci can be contagious. The most important species are Strep. dysgalactiae and Strep. uberis. Strep. dysgalactiae can be contagious and responds well to treatment. Strep. uberis is often environmental and does not respond as well to treatment. Some intramammary products have a label claim for one species only. To give accurate advice on treatment and management, we plan to implement routine differentiation of "Strep. species". We will distinguish Strep. dysgalactiae (somewhat like Strep. agalactiae), Strep. uberis (usually environmental, harder to cure), and the rest of the group which includes other streptococci, and enterococci that may be contaminants or mastitis pathogens. Feasibility of routine differentiation is currently under evaluation in our laboratories.

Chronic Coliform Mastitis
Researchers of Cornell University Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, including QMPS, have joined efforts to examine the question of udder inflammatory response to coliform infection during the dry period. Mastitis is most commonly noted during the early phase of drying off, and again during the late stages of the dry period and into early lactation. Although effective dry treatment products are useful in preventing many infections, especially in the early dry period, much of their usefulness is limited to mastitis caused by gram-positive organisms. This team of QMPS researchers 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.

Milk Quality and Food Safety on Organic Dairies
Over the past three years, milk quality and udder health has been followed on four dairy farms that are making the transition from conventional to organic milk production.  Two farms have completed the field phase; the other two farms will complete this phase in the coming year and the laboratory phase will begin.  Bacterial isolates collected over time will be evaluated for changes in antimicrobial susceptibility over time.  Rapid diagnostics for foodborne pathogens in bulk milk continue to be developed.  In mid-2008 a website will be launched to begin providing the public with information gathered during this study to the public.

Bulk Tank Milk Surveillance Program
The dairy industry continues to strive to meet the demands, expectations, and standards with regard to food quality and food safety.  Since April 2007, QMPS has been piloting a New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets (NYSA&M) funded project entitled “  Bulk Tank Surveillance of animal health, food borne pathogen testing, and milk quality parameters in dairy herds using bulk mil”..  Surveillance monitoring of bulk milk as a means to assess milk quality and safety as well as animal health is attractive because it reflects the health status of most mature animals in a herd. Bulk milk is collected by either milk haulers or certified milk inspectors allowing minimal work on the producer end.  Results are sent to producers alerting them of problems that may have been detected in the samples.  This program can be used as an early detection tool for dairy producers to monitor and make management decisions regarding herd health.

 

 

 

 

 

Teat Dip Testing
According to our Mission Statement, QMPS is a science-based organization that exists to meet the needs of producers, veterinarians and the dairy industry through on-farm service, diagnostics, education and research. One of the needs of dairy producers is to have access to independent, third-party information regarding the efficacy and/or safety of products that are available to them. At the same time, industry partners are increasingly interested in external product evaluation to support their claims of product quality. QMPS decided to focus efforts toward product testing for commercial clients, in order to help build the bridge between manufacturers and producers.  In 2007, QMPS developed a series of protocols to evaluate the efficacy of teat disinfectants.  While in-vitro tests assist manufacturers in developing better products and formulations, field studies provide unbiased results to producers.

Summer Dairy Institute
QMPS has provided training in the Spanish language focusing on dairy terminology for attendants of the Summer Dairy Institute since it began four years ago.  Recent veterinary school graduates and fourth year students come to Cornell for eight weeks of intensive dairy training. Spanish is part of this program since most veterinarians working on dairies in the United States will be working with Spanish speaking personnel. The class met twice a week and focused on the basics of Spanish and dairy vocabulary which is difficult to obtain in other types of Spanish courses. QMPS also shared its experiences working with farms and Hispanic labor to help young veterinarians to provide a better service to their clients.

All Staff Retreat
On August 29-31, QMPS staff attended their retreat at the Oswegatchie Educational Center in New York State’s Adirondack Park.   The retreat was planned to prepare staff for four major changes affecting QMPS.  These changes include the implementation of the UVIS (Universal Veterinary Information System), project management, quality assurance systems, and the future physical move to the new Animal Health Diagnostic Center.  Dr. Larry Van De Valk (Director of Lead NY) provided training in leadership and change over a two-day period.  Staff also completed a self assessment and was given guidance by Dr. Van De Valk on how to see and accept change as an opportunity for improvement.  In addition, a reading assignment was given before the retreat, which was aimed at enhancing self-accountability of individual employees.  Discussions and activities surrounded this assignment with the purpose of empowering individuals to tackle obstacles to change.  Moreover, New York State Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets Patrick Hooker gave a keynote address on what QMPS can do for New York State agriculture.

Publications
Munoz, M. A., F. L. Welcome, Y. H. Schukken, R. N. Zadoks. 2007. Molecular Epidemiology of two Klebsiella pneumoniae outbreaks on a dairy farm in New York State. J. Clinical Microbiology 45(12):3964-3971.

Schmitt-van de Leemput, E., R. N. Zadoks. 2007. Genotypic and Phenotypic Macrolide and Lincosamide Resistance of Streptococcus uberis from Cases Of Clinical Mastitis. J Dairy Sci. 90(11):5089

Olde-Riekerink, R. G. M., H. W. Barkema, W. Veenstra, F. E. Berg, R. N. Zadoks. 2007. Somatic Cell Count During and Between Milkings. J Dairy Sci 90(8):3733.

Zadoks R. N.. 2007. Sources and epidemiology of Streptococcus uberis, with special emphasis on mastitis in dairy cattle. CAB Reviews: Perspectives in Agriculture, Veterinary Science, Nutrition and Natural Resources, 2;030:15 pp.

Munoz M. A., R. N. Zadoks. 2007. Short Communication: Patterns of fecal shedding of Klebsiella by dairy cows. J Dairy Sci 90(3):1220.

Gollnick N.S., R.M. Mitchell, M. Baumgart, H.K. Janagama, S. Sreevatsan, Y. H. Schukken.  Survival of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in bovine monocyte-derived macrophages is not affected by host infection status but depends on the infecting bacterial genotype. Vet Immunol Immunopathol. Dec 15;120(3-4):93-105, 2007. 

Chapagain P.P., J.S. Van Kessel, J.S. Karns, D.R. Wolfgang, E. Hovingh, K.A. Nelen, Y. H. Schukken, Y.T. Grohn.  A mathematical model of the dynamics of Salmonella Cerro infection in a US dairy herd.  Epidemiol Infect. April 20:1-10, 2007.

Rivas A.L.,S.J. Schwager, R.N.Gonzalez, K.L.Anderson.  Multifactorial Relationships between Intramammary invasion by Staphylococcus aureus and bovine leukocyte markers.  Can J. Vet Res. 2007;71:135-44

González RN.  Mastitis coliforme e inmunización (Coliform mastitis and immunization), in Proceedings Symposium on Bovine Mastitis and Milk Quality, Buenos Aires, Argentina, May 2007; 1-10.