Vårtor på mjölkkornas spenar
The reason why I choose the subject ?Warts on teats of Dairy Cows? was because the
herd I work with has big problems with skin-complaint on teats and udder.
So I found it interesting to try to find the reason why the cows look like they do and
even to find a way to relieve the trouble.
The examine work included both a literature research, an experimental test,
concerning a comparison of different teat sprays and also an inquiry-research about
the occurrence of warts in practical herds in order to collect as much facts as possible.
Three companies, selling different types of teat disinfectants, were willing to sponsor
the teat dipping experiment. The aim of the experiment was to see if any special
disinfectant had more pronounced healing effects on teat warts. The date for the
experiment was 18th December 2004 to 22nd January 2005, which was going to be 5
weeks.The experiment was carried out in the herd of Ola and Eskil Carlsson in
Fjärlöv, Hässleholm.
The three compared teat spray chemicals were; Nova Viri Sun, Nardosept, and
BlockadeTM. These chemicals were compared to one control group, which teats were
treated with the ordinary chemical normally used in the herd, i.e. Cide SPRAY.
Unfortunately, the experiment did not show any distinct differences or results.
The inquiry was delivered by mail to 65 dairy farmers in the area of Göinge in the
beginning of November 2004. Answers came from 43 farmers. The information from
the farmers was analysed and presented in tables.
Neither this moment showed any distinct differences or results, which I was looking
forward to. But there were some interesting hints, for example it seems to be more
herds, with warts, in tied-stalls compared to loose-housing systems.
In the beginning of the literature research it seemed to be rather difficult to find any
facts about warts on dairy cows. But after a lot of research, I was lucky to get into
contact with Stefan Alenius, SLU in Uppsala. He had a lot of knowledge about virus
and gave me also many tips.
From the literature review it seems clear that not all of the ?wounds? on the teats of a
dairy cow have to be warts. There are at least three other virus diseases, which can be
a reason to ?spots? likely warts, on teats and udder. Warts (Bovine Papilloma virus)
seams to be the mildest one.
Even if there are no spectacular results from the inquiry research or the teat dipping
experiment, I hope that this project can mediate, to the reader, some facts about warts
and other kind of ?suffering? which can hit the teats of a dairy cow!