Bovine mastitis: a survey of Ontario dairy producers, 1978.

A survey to assess the knowledge and perception regarding mastitis of 1200 randomly selected Ontario dairy producers was conducted using a mailed questionnaire. Other data were provided by the Ontario Milk Marketing Board and the Dairy Herd Improvement Association. In general, producers were less aware of subclinical than clinical mastitis and did not appreciate the losses in production associated with it. Approximately 40% of producers were not familiar with mastitis in its subclinical form.Many producers have not adopted practices that have been advocated for the integrated control of mastitis. For example, 35.5% of producers surveyed used single service paper towels and 38% regularly used teat dips and dry cow antibiotic therapy.