Mastitis leads to major economic loss on dairy farms in New York State and worldwide. Revenue is lost due to treatment costs, decreased milk production, and loss of the animal in incurable infections. However, on average, less than a quarter of all clinical mastitis cases benefit from treatment with antibiotics and in approximately 30% of milk samples from mastitis quarters no causative organisms can be identified by aerobic culture. When indicated however, a timely treatment with intramammary antibiotics can promote cure rate and prevent a persistent infection of the animal and spread of the organism in the herd. Therefore pathogen specific management decisions are crucial to effectively and economically eliminate intramammary infections and prevent the unnecessary use of antibiotics. The faster the pathogen can be identified, the sooner the appropriate management protocol can be applied, reducing financial losses for the farmer. We are partnering with Acumen LLC to develop an on-farm applicable, PCR based detection system for mastitis pathogens in milk. Requiring only minimal sample preparation the assay will detect a panel of the most common mastitis pathogens within a few hours and thereby substantially accelerate the process compared to aerobic culture. Farmers will be able to identify whether a pathogenic organism is present in the affected quarter and if antibiotic treatment is indicated. The assay will present a rapid and cost effective tool for farmers to control clinical mastitis in their herd and at the same time allow them to be more judicious with the use of antibiotics preserving their efficacy.