STARTVAC® - The first vaccine against bovine mastitis

STARTVAC® the first vaccine against bovine mastitis registered by the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products (EMEA) being marketed across the EU since last February.

On 14 September, as part of SPACE (Rennes, France), the largest cattle fair in Europe, the journal La France Agricole awarded Startvac® the INEL D'OR 2009 Award for livestock innovations. According to the jury for the Awards, "STARTVAC ® is a new tool in mastitis treatment that will reduce losses on dairy farms".

Startvac® is positioned as a key tool in programmes for controlling mastitis and a definitive advance for improving milk quality.

The importance of milk quality is a major concern for government administrations and dairy processors.

Using STARTVAC ® will signify an important benefit for dairy companies and dairies. It will make it possible to obtain milk with better organoleptic qualities (low somatic cell count, reduced risks of antibiotic and so on) and improve milk production and quality and that of dairy products such as yogurt and cheese, demonstrating dairies' involvement in obtaining quality dairy products for consumers. 

The pressure from the administration and final consumers mean that now all the links in the production chain work together to obtain high biological value milk.

In that chain, the work of the farmer is to achieve a farm with the highest hygienic-sanitary conditions so that the cow enters a milking parlour that is as clean as possible, and one that has the most efficient handling possible, the objective of which is to reduce stress on the farm.

In turn, the vet seeks to increase the health status of the operation. Hipra, a drug prevention specialist in the field of Animal Health launches STARTVAC ® as part of this scenario. It is a vaccine that decreases the incidence of intramammary infections thereby obtaining healthier animals.

With the work of these three links, a high value organoleptic milk is obtained that the dairy can collect and transform into a value added product for the food chain. 

It boils down to ... "we can produce a high quality final product only from high quality raw material, so the efforts aimed at the beginning of the production chain are very important".  

The advantage of producing milk from animals vaccinated with STARTVAC® translates into a benefit for society because in the long-term the use of antibiotics will decrease. This implies both a benefit to the dairy, by reducing problems in the procurement of dairy products and also a significant improvement in the quality of its raw material: milk.

The benefit to the dairy from obtaining higher quality milk will also be transferred to farmers, because they can obtain higher premiums for quality, while increasing the competitiveness of farms, their professionalization and adherence to quality standards with the aim of increasing the relationship between the two sides.

Thus, Hipra's objectives coincide with those of a dairy: to be a symbol of quality, innovation and guarantee for the consumer.