The five point plan is tried and tested. It is a set of 5 principles which, if followed, can help to reduce mastitis incidence and high cell counts. The five principles are:
- Record and treat all clinical cases.
- Post-milking disinfection of teats.
- Use dry cow therapy at drying off.
- Cull chronically mastitic cows.
- Perform regular milking machine maintenance.
These principles have been around for years, having first been formulated in the 1960s. The implementation of these basic rules has been at least partially responsible for the incidence of clinical mastitis being around one third that seen in the late 1960s.