On the 26th of October, the ruminants team from HIPRA BENELUX in The Netherlands organized an interactive knowledge session at the faculty of veterinary medicine in Utrecht for veterinarians and advisers working on dairy goat farms.

Over the course of an afternoon, five experts in mastitis in dairy goats shared their knowledge and field experiences with more than 40 participants.

First was Dominique Bergonier (DVM, PhD, ECSRHM and ECAR dipl. at the National Veterinary School of Toulouse) who started his presentation on udder health in small ruminants by explaining how the French dairy goat sector works. He also shared different experiences including vaccination against mastitis in goats, that improved goat health and how this preventive tool can improve milk production on farms.

The second speaker, Nico Verduin (chairman of the NGZO), gave a short presentation on the current and future focus of the NGZO, the trade organization for collectors and processors of goat's milk based in the Netherlands.

Next, Gerrit Koop (associate professor, department of Population Health Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University) presented his view on the economic effects of unbalanced udders, high somatic cell count and clinical mastitis in dairy goats.

Then Maxime Pals, who is doing a PhD on improving dairy goat udder health at the faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Utrecht University, shared new research on the risk factors associated with asymmetric udder halves in Dutch dairy goats.

Finally, Yvette de Geus (PhD Candidate One Health Epidemiology Microbial Agents, Utrecht University) shared results on her recently published paper about the effects of an inactivated vaccine against Staphylococcus spp. on udder health in primiparous dairy goats.

With this initiative, HIPRA reinforces its commitment to the dairy goat sector in The Netherlands. We would also like to thank all the speakers and veterinarians for participating in this interactive session.