[Omeo33] Art 1116 - Homeopathy, 2010, 99 (2), 90-98

[Gino Santini]

A randomized controlled trial to compare the use of homeopathy and  
internal Teat Sealers for the prevention of mastitis in organically  
farmed dairy cows during the dry period and 100 days post-calving
P. Klocke, S. Ivemeyer, G. Butler, A. Maeschli and F. Heil

Introduction - Routine use of antibiotics to prevent mastitis in dairy  
cows is prohibited by organic farming regulations. Internal Teat  
Sealers have been proposed as an alternative. We compared two drying- 
off (DO) supporting measures (Internal Teat Sealer and Homeopathy) to  
an untreated control group to assess their protective effects against  
clinical mastitis and intra-mammary infections during dry period of  
dairy cows.
Methods - A field trial with 102 dairy cows from 13 Swiss organic  
dairy farms was conducted. Cows were randomly assigned to one of three  
groups within a herd. In the Internal Teat Sealer group (ITS; 36 cows)  
cows were treated with the commercial ORBESEAL (Pfizer) in all four  
quarters immediately after the last milking. In the Homeopathy group  
(HDT; 32 cows) the cows were treated per-orally by a herd-specific  
homeopathic formulation consisting of two remedies in 1:106 dilution  
over 5 days before and after DO. The untreated group received no  
therapy (U; 34 cows).
Results - For ITS, HDT and U the clinical mastitis incidence rates for  
the first 100 days post-calving were 11%, 9% and 3%, respectively, and  
the proportion of normally secreting quarters was (quarter somatic  
cell count (SCC) [QSCC] < 100,000/ml) 70%, 68%, and 65%, respectively.  
Power analysis indicates that a proportion of 75% would support the  
rejection of null hypothesis in the HDT, and 74% in the ITS group  
against untreated control. Quarters of cows with SCC < 200,000/ml at  
DO showed significantly higher normal secretion in HDT group (odds  
ratio [OR] 9.69) compared to untreated control, whereas Teat Sealing  
lead to an OR of 3.09 (not significant, post hoc power 31.3%).
Conclusions - Under the studied conditions herd-specific homeopathic  
dry cow therapy was effective in increasing the number of animals with  
normal milk secretion after subsequent parturition, compared to  
untreated control. It may be an effective alternative to Teat Sealing,  
particularly in animals with relatively low SCCs. Further research is  
required to confirm these results, and under different environmental  
conditions.

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