Caring for animals with a conscience

         People who care for animals do so with a conscience – we consider it an honor and privilege to do so. We give medication accordingly – with a conscience. However, farm size doesn’t change the care, concern and human conscience that goes into responsible animal care. If you’ve ever stood with a farm animal and cried because you felt so incredibly frustrated about not being able to make the animal feel better, you’d know why we want and need every tool available – including antibiotics.

        
Antibiotics are most commonly used in dairy cattle to treat mastitis
infections. Mastitis is an inflammation and infection of the mammary gland –
and can be incredibly painful, as any mom who has experienced it can
explain.  Depending on the type of mastitis, the udder may swell up, the
cow can have a fever – or in the worst cases, the infection becomes systemic,
endangering the cow’s life. This is not due to unsanitary conditions, stressed
cattle, over milking or “factory farms” – just like it is not a human’s fault when
she gets mastitis. Some animals are just more prone to getting this infection
and the best prevention in the world can’t keep every cow from getting mastitis
– even though farmers try their best.

        
Cows injected with antibiotics may carry some residue of the antibiotic in
their milk, just like you secrete medication through your tears, tears, saliva
and urine. Milk from treated cows is withheld – it is not put into the bulk
tank with the rest of the herd’s milk. It is discarded. Care is taken to ensure
milk from treated cows does have any impact on the other milk, such as rinsing
milkers (milking machines) and lines that the withheld milk traveled down to be
removed from the system.

        
Why do we even milk cows with mastitis?  Milking gets the bad cells out of
the cow’s udder to reduce the infection. It’s also important for a cow’s
comfort.

         Milk is not allowed to contain any detectable antibiotics. The FDA Grade A Pasteurized Milk Ordinance, revised in 2009, has a legal standard requiring milk to contain no detectable antibiotics when analyzed using approved test methods. Interestingly, the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance dates back to 1924.  If you’re buying milk in the grocery store, the only kind you’re purchasing is Grade A.

         When antibiotics are used responsibly, they do not enter your food supply. Milk is tested multiple times to be sure no milk enters the food supply with antibiotics in it. Every tanker of milk in the U.S. is also tested before the milk is pumped from the tanker for delivery at the processing plant. If the milk passes the test, it is pumped into the plant’s holding tanks for processing, such as pasteurization, homogenization or being turned into cheese, ice cream, yogurt, etc.

        
If milk does not pass antibiotic testing, the entire tanker load of milk is
discarded. Farm samples are then reviewed to find the source of the antibiotic
residues. The farm is usually held financially responsible for the entire
tanker full of milk, fines can be involved and the processor may refuse
shipment in the future. The veterinarian for the farm is also contacted and may
be put under review by the FDA. As any dairy farmer or veterinarian will tell
you, antibiotics are NOT something they take lightly.

Read more
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