In recent years, the agricultural sector has been under pressure due to the excessive consumption of antimicrobials. In the dairy sector, selective dry cow therapy has been introduced to decrease antibiotic use, next to improved prevention. It is certainly a major step in the right direction; yet, additional measures are necessary and possible. In addition to selective dry cow therapy, selective treatment can also be introduced as a novel treatment approach for non -severe clinical mastitis cases. In the United States, New Zealand, Germany and the Scandinavian countries, such an approach has been shown to reduce antibiotic use for the treatment of clinical mastitis by up to 50%, without negative consequences for milk production nor udder health. Factors that determine the reduction in antibiotic use are (1) the number of days of milk withdrawal, (2) treatment costs (antibiotics and/or NSAID's), (3) treatment duration, (4) delay between diagnosis determined by a rapid test and the start of treatment, (5) risk of spread of infection towards other cows in the herd, (6) proportion of mastitis cases caused by gram -positive bacteria and (7) bacteriological cure. As for selective dry cow therapy, selective treatment should be used with caution. From an economic point of view, selective treatment would be most interesting on farms with a low prevalence of non -severe clinical mastitis cases due to gram -positive bacteria and with a high likelihood of bacteriological cure.
