Canadian Bovine Mastitis Research Network

The Canadian Bovine Mastitis Research Network was created in 2001 by dairy producers wishing to develop a national mastitis research network. Today, the Network has grown to include about forty Canadian researchers, from various backgrounds and specializations, working in universities and research centres across the country (figure 1). Their common goal is to find solutions to reduce mastitis in dairy herds. In Canada, total losses linked to this important disease are estimated at over $400 million per year.

Research and Operations
The Network’ s research program has approximately twenty projects on different topics. Our current source of funding, from 2006 to 2011, is provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSRC) and by Canadian dairy producers. A second phase, 2011 – 2016, is under consideration.

What Is Mastitis?

Mastitis is an inflammation of the internal tissue of the mammary gland, caused mainly by the introduction of bacteria. It is the most common disease found in dairy cows and also the primary cause for the use of antibiotics in these animals. Mastitis causes significant economic losses to the dairy industry: production losses, discarded milk unfit for human consumption, yield losses during the processing of milk into various products, cost of veterinary treatments, early culling and mortality of the affected animals.

The Network is overse en by a Steering Committee and also relies on a Scientific Committee to assess research projects. An administrative team based at the Faculté de médecine vétérinaire of the Université de Montréal at Saint-Hyacinthe (Quebec), handles day-to-day operations, managing finances, research projects, training and networking programs and knowledge transfer.

As you have likely noticed, the Network also oversees a website that has a variety of mastitis-related information. Moreover research activities, we also create various pedagogical and veterinary tools for our users. With the help of our researchers and students, we contribute articles to publications specializing in dairy production based on our research results or on other pertinent mastitis-related information.

All logos and other information that can be used to design scientific posters and other documents are in the Member Access section of our website. You will also find there the CBMRN’s Acknowledgment Policy for scientific publications. To access these pages, please contact Annik L'Espérance to be assigned a user name and password.

Each year, the CBMRN organizes a scientific meeting, at which each researcher presents his or her work-in-progress. This important networking event is open to all our researchers and students. This meeting includes two activities specially geared to our students: a poster session and a training workshop. Other workshops may also be scheduled throughout the year as opportunities arise.