The last significant in-season drop in the price of milk to suppliers was in 2008, and that doesn’t take a long memory to recall – it is hardly ancient history!

The price drop in 2008 triggered a range of responses, some of which produced significant lessons which shouldn’t be forgotten.

In terms of milk quality and mastitis control there are three lessons that should probably be recalled now to avoid history repeating itself.

"We work really hard to get the cell count down, and then it just takes off on us, and we don't seem to be able to stop it."

The frustration was clearly obvious at a meeting with the farm team on this 300 cow farm.

"How can it spread so quickly?"

Paul milks about 600 cows through a large herringbone dairy in Northern Victoria.

The farm’s Bulk Milk Cell Count (BMCC) and number of clinical cases of mastitis had been climbing steadily throughout the wet winter and spring, and it was failing to respond to everything the farm team had tried.

In our initial discussion with Paul, one sentence described the level of frustration and exhaustion for everyone on the farm – “We have hit the wall!!!”