Engaged Graduate Student Grants
Judicious Use of Antibiotics to Treat Mastitis and Reduce Economic Losses from Discarded Milk
Developing, evaluating and implementing an alternative therapy for dairy cows with mammary gland infections in order to promote the judicious use of antibiotics and improve food safety, quality and farm economics.
The overuse of antimicrobial drugs to reduce infection of the mammary gland in dairy cows may be associated with lower production and the transfer of resistant bacteria to consumers. In this project, Amy Vasquez, a graduate student in biological and biomedical sciences, is conducting a research project to develop an algorithm that will identify cows that are at high-risk for developing infections of the mammary glands, which would be targeted for the antimicrobial therapy. The project will demonstrate that selectively administering the drugs to dairy cows will reduce drug use and costs while not increasing infection rates in low-risk cows. After the outcomes of the study are evaluated, Vasquez will launch a series of outreach meetings to teach dairy producers on more than 100 farms in New York state about the benefits of selective antibiotic therapy.
Topics: Food and Agriculture; Health, Nutrition and Medicine
The Team
- Graduate student: Amy Vasquez, biological and biomedical sciences
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Special committee chair:
Daryl Van Nydam, Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences
College of Veterinary Medicine
- Community partner: Spruce Haven Farms
- Community partner: Cayuga Marketing
- Community partner: Valley Ag Software