Earlier this year, the National Mastitis Council (NMC) launched a new online resource to its 1,000 members. The Teat Condition Portfolio allows users to quickly see and compare various teat conditions. They can then use this information to assess teat health and make recommendations for treatment.
NMC Teat Health Committee Chair Keith Engel of GEA provided responses to commonly asked questions below. NMC Associate Director Kristy Mach also contributed.
Q. What is the Teat Condition Portfolio (TCP)?
The TCP is a “cowside” tool available to all NMC members that provides quicker assessment of environmental, infectious and milking machine-induced teat conditions by being able to compare conditions cowside. Faster assessment will lead to earlier application of the appropriate action or future preventive measures, thus allowing dairy producers to increase profitability.
Q. Why was it developed?
Previously, NMC had Teat Condition Portfolio, which was developed by Teat Club International in the 1990s. It was a valuable resource when developed at the time, but was only available on a CD, which made using it cowside tough and making updates to it hard. With today’s technology, it was definitely time to update this resource and make it available cowside. Having the TCP available online to NMC members is a huge asset to all those working with teat health. Easily searchable by keyword, the TCP allows members to go immediately to the teat symptoms that match what they are seeing. Or members can merely click through a variety of images until they find a scenario that matches the teat ailment they are viewing in real time, cowside.
Q. Who should use it?
It can be used by all who work with teat health conditions. This would include veterinarians, udder health specialists, dairy producers, dairy herdspeople, milking machine dealers, industry milk quality professionals and more.
Q. Is the TCP only available to NMC members?
Yes – it is a free member benefit to all NMC members.
Q. How can users access it?
It is on the NMC website under resources and available with a simple sign-in on any device that has internet.
Q. Is there a cost?
It is free with NMC membership. An individual professional membership in the National Mastitis Council is $165 per year. More membership levels as well as applications for membership are available here.
Q. What are some unique features of the TCP?
It has pictures of teat conditions in all major categories and is searchable by keyword or picture. Any NMC member can also submit a picture for review.
Q. How does it work?
It is an online application that has a searchable database of teat conditions and also resource papers from teat health research.
Q. What feedback have you received from users?
We’ve received excellent feedback, and members are very happy that it is able to be used cowside.
Q. How many estimated users do you have at this point?
Since we launched in February when we introduced it at the NMC Annual Meeting, we’ve received more than 400 page views.
Once you’ve become an NMC member, you can access the TCP here using your login credentials. 
PHOTO 1: The TCP can be accessed on the NMC website under “resources” then “Teat Condition Portfolio.” Users must be an NMC member and log in with their credentials to gain access to the TCP.
PHOTO 2: The TCP can be accessed with any device connected to the internet, including a smartphone. This is the view from a tablet.
PHOTO 3: Users can submit images to add to the TCP by using the submission form and selecting the category the image best fits. Screen captures provided by Keith Engel.
