Short communication: Influence of the sampling device on somatic cell count variation in cow milk samples (by official recording)

<p>The objective of this study was to investigate the variability in cow´s milk somatic cell counts (SCC) depending on the type of milk meter used by dairy farms for official milk recording. The study was performed in 2011 and 2012 in the major cattle area of Spain. In total, 137,846 lactations of Holstein-Friesian cows were analysed at 1,912 farms. A generalised least squares regression model was used for data analysis. The model showed that the milk meter had a substantial effect on the SCC for individual milk samples obtained for official milk recording. The results suggested an overestimation of the SCC in milk samples from farms that had electronic devices in comparison with farms that used portable devices and underestimation when volumetric meters are used. A weak positive correlation was observed between the SCC and the percentage of fat in individual milk samples. The results underline the importance of considering this variable when using SCC data from milk recording in the dairy herd improvement program or in quality milk programs.</p>

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Use of the Fossomatic Somatic Cell Counts in a Mastitis Control Program1

Journal of Food Protection ◽

10.4315/0362-028x-40.7.490 ◽

1977 ◽

Vol 40 (7) ◽

pp. 490-492 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

G. M. JONES ◽

C. W. HEALD ◽

W. N. PATTERSON ◽

D. E. ROBINSON

Keyword(s):

Somatic Cell ◽

Dairy Herd ◽

Cow Milk ◽

Average Percentage ◽

Somatic Cell Counts ◽

Milk Samples ◽

Cell Counts ◽

Herd Milk ◽

Mastitis Control

The Fossomatic determination of somatic cells present in individual cow milk samples was instituted in the Virginia Dairy Herd Improvement testing program in June, 1976. During the first 6 months the average count was 449,060 cells/ml for 113,735 observations. The average percentage of cows according to ranges in cell counts was: under 150,000, 47.9%; 150–400,000, 25.8%; 400–800,000, 12.5%; 800–1,500,000, 7.2%; and over 1,500,000, 6.6%. The percentage of cows with less than 150,000 cells/ml was reduced for September, 1976. On a herd basis, 66% averaged less than 500,000 cells/ml, 30% between 500 to 1,000,000, and 4% exceeded 1,000,000. The percentage of herds with less than 500,000 cells/ml decreased from June to September, 1976 but increased in October. Quarters infected with primary pathogens were estimated by Westgarth's equation to be 10.4% resulting in a calculated 5% reduction in total herd milk production. Procedures are described which would assist dairymen in the interpretation of somatic cell counts.

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Effects of the CSN1AG allele on the clotting time of cow milk and on the rheological properties of rennet-curd

Journal of Dairy Research ◽

10.1017/s0022029900004696 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 68 (1) ◽

pp. 63-70 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

PRIMO MARIANI ◽

ANDREA SUMMER ◽

PAOLA DI GREGORIO ◽

ANDREA RANDO ◽

ENRICO FOSSA ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Somatic Cell ◽

Rheological Properties ◽

Titratable Acidity ◽

Cow Milk ◽

Clotting Time ◽

Somatic Cell Counts ◽

Milk Samples ◽

Cell Counts ◽

Normal Ranges ◽

Rennet Coagulation

The aim of this research was to study the effects of the CSN1AG allele on the main rennet coagulation properties of milk. The study was carried out on individual milk samples with low αs1-casein obtained from 19 Italian Brown cows heterozygous for the CSN1AG allele (seventeen CSN1A BG and two CSN1A CG) from four herds in the province of Parma (Italy). Control cows (sixteen CSN1A BB and three CSN1A BC) giving milk with normal αs1-casein levels were chosen from within the same herds in order to establish pairs of cows with identical environment and management conditions, and comparable lactation stages and numbers. Individual milk samples from single pairs of cows with somatic cell counts and lactose and chloride levels within the normal ranges were collected and analysed in parallel. Rennet coagulation properties of milk were analysed using Formagraph and Gel Tester. Milk from low αs1-casein cows was characterized by lower casein content, lower titratable acidity and a higher proportion of κ-casein in total casein. The clotting time of this milk was ∼ 23% lower than that obtained with milk from normal αs1-casein cows. Rennet curd from low αs1-casein milk was obtained more rapidly and had a higher final firmness: curd-firming time was ∼ 35% lower and curd firmness measured 30 min after rennet addition was ∼ 27 % higher compared with that for normal αs1-casein milk. In addition, curd from low αs1-casein milk had a higher resistance to compression. These results suggest that, although a role for the CSN2 locus cannot be definitely excluded, the CSN1AG allele can considerably affect the main rennet coagulation properties of milk.

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Bacterial identification, somatic cell count, antimicrobial profile and toxigenic Staphylococcus strains search from mastitic cow milk samples on small farms properties

Pesquisa Veterinária Brasileira ◽

10.1590/1678-5150-pvb-5523 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 39 (9) ◽

pp. 715-722

Author(s):

Ubirajara L. Lavor ◽

Felipe F. Guimarães ◽

Anelise Salina ◽

Mateus S.R. Mioni ◽

Helio Langoni

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Somatic Cell ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Bovine Milk ◽

Bovine Mastitis ◽

High Sensitivity ◽

Cow Milk ◽

Small Farms ◽

Milk Samples ◽

Cell Counts

ABSTRACT: Bovine mastitis has a negative impact on milk production and can pose risks to public health. The present study aimed to evaluate the quality of bovine milk from small farms in the Botucatu/SP region. Somatic cell counts (SCC), identification of pathogens involved in mastitis, and sensitivity antimicrobial profile of staphylococci isolated were performed. The presence of enterotoxin encoding genes in isolates of staphylococci obtained from milk was investigated. Milk samples from individual mammary quarters of cows were submitted to the California mastitis test (CMT) and SCC. Of the 239 dairy cows from 21 dairy herds evaluated (mean = 11.4 animals/property), two cows (0.8%) presented clinical mastitis and 86 (35.9%) subclinical mastitis. Bacterial culture was performed in 177 quarter milk samples. Staphylococci were identified in 55 (31.1%), corynebacteria in 45 (25.4%), streptococci in 25 (14.1%) and coliforms in four (2.3%) milk samples. Average SCC from culture-positive samples was 1598x103 cells/mL, in case of staphylococci was 1362x103 cells/ml, streptococci was 2857x103 cells/mL, corynebacteria was 976x103 cells/mL and in the cases of coliforms 1161x103 cells/mL were obtained. Staphylococci showed a high sensitivity (>95%) to cephalothin, cotrimoxazole, enrofloxacin, and gentamicin, with a 41.2% resistance to penicillin and 11.8% to oxacillin. Both coagulase positive (CPS) and negative staphylococci (CNS) carried genes encoding enterotoxins in 21.6% of the first group and 41.9% in the second. The sea gene was the most detected 45.8% (n=24) between them, followed by seb with 29.2% and sec with 25.0%. The sed gene was not identified. We highlight the potential risk to public health in the possibility of strains of Staphylococcus spp. enterotoxin-producing genes that can cause staphylococcal food poisoning.

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Variation in Somatic Cell Counts in Dairy Herd Improvement Milk Samples

Journal of Dairy Science ◽

10.3168/jds.s0022-0302(76)84331-7 ◽

1976 ◽

Vol 59 (6) ◽

pp. 1119-1123 ◽

Cited By ~ 64

Author(s):

G.W. Bodoh ◽

W.J. Battista ◽

L.H. Schultz ◽

R.P. Johnston

Keyword(s):

Somatic Cell ◽

Dairy Herd ◽

Somatic Cell Counts ◽

Milk Samples ◽

Cell Counts

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Associations between somatic cell counts at calving or prior to drying-off and clinical mastitis in the remaining or subsequent lactation

Journal of Dairy Research ◽

10.1017/s0022029906002172 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 74 (1) ◽

pp. 66-73 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Anne Cathrine Whist ◽

Olav Østerås

Keyword(s):

Somatic Cell ◽

Cox Regression ◽

Reference Group ◽

Geometric Mean ◽

Dairy Herd ◽

Clinical Mastitis ◽

Cow Milk ◽

Somatic Cell Counts ◽

Cell Counts ◽

Increased Risk

Data from 350 herds enrolled in the Norwegian Dairy Herd Recording System (NDHRS) were used to investigate the associations between the first two cow-milk somatic cell counts (SCC) test-days’ results after calving or the three last SCC test-days prior to drying off in the first lactation and the hazard ratio (HR) of clinical mastitis (CM) during the remaining first or the subsequent second lactation respectively. Altogether, 9519 first lactations and 6046 second lactations were included. Cox regression analyses adjusted for herd frailty effect were used. In the first lactation, SCC>40000 cells/ml on the first or second test-day was significantly associated with an increased risk of a CM event in the remaining first lactation. HR, compared with 10000 cells/ml, increased from 1·6 (1·4) for SCC of 40000–60000 cells/ml to 6·9 (4·2) for SCC >800000 cells/ml, when using the first (second) SCC test-day in the first lactation. Cows with a geometric mean of the three last SCC test-days between 50000 and 100000 cells/ml and between 401000 and 800000 cells/ml in the first lactation had HR of CM during the second lactation of 1·3 and 2·8 respectively compared with a reference group of 10000–20000 cells/ml. If a CM episode in the first lactation occurred, the HR for having a CM event during the second lactation was 1·5. There was a significant frailty effect which disappeared if the incidence rate of CM at herd level was included in the model.

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Mastitis vaccination using a commercial polyvalent vaccine or a herd-specific Staphylococcus aureus vaccine

Tierärztliche Praxis Ausgabe G Großtiere / Nutztiere ◽

10.15653/tpg-150912 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 44 (04) ◽

pp. 219-229 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Ahmad Hamedy ◽

Oliver Passarge ◽

Axel Sobiraj ◽

Markus Freick ◽

Yvonne Frank ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Somatic Cell ◽

Cell Count ◽

Milk Yield ◽

Somatic Cell Count ◽

Dairy Herd ◽

Clinical Mastitis ◽

Health State ◽

Udder Health ◽

Milk Samples ◽

Cell Counts

Summary Objective of this study was the improvement of selected parameters of udder health by mastitis vaccination in a dairy herd with elevated bulk milk somatic cell counts and Staphylococcus (S.) aureus as predominant mastitis causing pathogen. Material and methods: On a dairy farm, pregnant heifers (status group [SG] 1; n = 181) as well as cows stratified for their udder health state (classification based on results of cytobacteriological investigations of quarter milk samples obtained before dry cow therapy [MS0]) (SG 2–4; n = 416) were randomly assigned to one of the following vaccination groups (VG): Startvac® (VG SV), Bestvac® Rind Mastitis (containing herd-specific S. aureus-strains; VG BV) and the unvaccinated control (VG Co, placebo), respectively. The collected data (5 [MS5] and 52 [MS52] days in milk [DIM]: quarter milk somatic cell count [QSCC] and bacteriological investigation of quarter milk samples; dairy herd improvement test [DHIT] days 1–10: milk yield and individual cow somatic cell count; until 305 DIM: clinical mastitis cases) were compared between the VG within their SG. Results: S. aureus prevalences were significantly lower in VG SV (p < 0.001) and VG BV (p = 0.006) within SG 3 and in VG SV (p = 0.008) within SG 4, respectively, in comparison to VG Co. Milk yields (DHIT days [p = 0.042] and 305-day milk yield [p = 0.040]) were significantly less in VG SV within SG 4 compared to VG Co. Significant different changes over time in comparison to VG Co indicating a vaccine effect during lactation were only observed for QSCC within SG 4 for VG BV (p = 0.017; increase towards MS52) and for S. aureus prevalence within SG 3 for VG BV (p < 0.001; opposing trends from MS0 towards MS52). All other interactions of time and VG under investigation were not significant in any of the SG. Furthermore, there were no descriptive differences in the incidence of clinical mastitis and duration of a necessary mastitis therapy, respectively, between the VG within their SG. Conclusion: In this field study, the application of two different mastitis vaccines was not an appropriate tool to improve the considered parameters of udder health sustainably.

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Evaluation of low cost in-line milk samplers for estimating individual cow somatic cell counts

Journal of Dairy Research ◽

10.1017/s0022029996002014 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 64 (1) ◽

pp. 13-22 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

TIMOTHY CLARKE ◽

SIMON-PETER ANDREWS ◽

PETER J. MOATE ◽

CARMEL A. POLLINO ◽

WERNER L. SCHMIDT

Keyword(s):

Somatic Cell ◽

Cell Count ◽

Low Cost ◽

Dairy Herd ◽

Large Collection ◽

Dairy Farmers ◽

Somatic Cell Counts ◽

Milk Samples ◽

Cell Counts ◽

High Line

The Dairy Herd Improvement Fund of Victoria recently identified a requirement for a simple and inexpensive in-line sampler to enable dairy farmers to collect representative milk samples for counting somatic cells. We found that the currently available simple in-line milk samplers, when connected to standard 35 ml collection vessels, terminate sampling early in a milking, and thus provide samples that are unrepresentative of the whole milking. We showed that cell count during a milking varies greatly, tending to be high for the first 1–2 l. Analyses of resulting samples will thus tend to overestimate cell counts if samplers are used in their traditional way. We found greater sampling rates in high-line compared with low-line milking systems, and consequently developed modified samplers suitable for both situations. Our samplers utilize low sampling rates (∼1–3%) and large collection vessels (450 ml). Compared with currently available simple in-line samplers, our type of sampler provided milk samples considerably more representative of the entire milking for the majority of cows. In conjunction with subsampling, they provided samples of appropriate size (12·5 ml minimum to 25 ml maximum) for testing fat, protein, lactose and cell count. Cell count results indicated that errors associated with the use of currently available simple in-line samplers could frequently be >200%. In contrast, we found that use of our samplers gave an estimate for cell count that was only slightly higher (mean 20%) than that from samples collected by an approved Tru-Test sampler.

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The proposed reduction in the upper limit of somatic cell counts in raw milk and its effect on the milk industry in Puerto Rico.

The Journal of Agriculture of the University of Puerto Rico ◽

10.46429/jaupr.v93i3-4.5470 ◽

1969 ◽

Vol 93 (3-4) ◽

pp. 239-254

Author(s):

Jaime E. Curbelo ◽

José Pantoja ◽

Angel A. Custodio ◽

Ernesto Riquelme ◽

Raúl Macchiavelli

Keyword(s):

Puerto Rico ◽

Somatic Cell ◽

Dairy Herd ◽

Raw Milk ◽

Potential Effect ◽

Improvement Program ◽

Data Set ◽

Somatic Cell Counts ◽

Cell Counts ◽

Upper Limit

Data from 302,995 test day records of individual cows of the Puerto Rico Dairy Herd Improvement Program (PRDHIP) and from 8,833 bulk tank results from all herds in Puerto Rico during the years 2004 and 2005 were analyzed for determining the potential effect of implementation of the National Mastitis Council's (NMC) proposal to reduce the present regulatory upper limit for somatic cell count of 750,000 cells/ml of crude milk. Means of herd test day milk yield per cow and of somatic cell scores on the linear scale for this data set were 17.2 kg and 3.9, respectively. On the basis of PRDHIP data, it was estimated that 20% of individual test day values, equivalent to 920,290 kg of raw milk, would exceed the upper limit if it were established at 600,000 cells/ml. The months of highest average milk production were February, March and May (18.4,18.2 and 18.2 kg/day, respectively).The lowest production was observed in August, September and October (16.3,15.6 and 15.8 kg/day, respectively). The months with the lowest average somatic cell score were February and April (both at 3.5) and those of the highest were August, September and October (4.2,4.2 and 4.3, respectively). The average somatic cell counts for herds enrolled or not enrolled in DHIP were similar (461,656 and 473,096, respectively; P greater than 0.05).

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Preliminary Evaluation of the Fossomatic Somatic Cell Counter for Analysis of Individual Cow Samples in a Central Testing Laboratory1

Journal of Food Protection ◽

10.4315/0362-028x-40.8.523 ◽

1977 ◽

Vol 40 (8) ◽

pp. 523-526 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

C. W. HEALD ◽

G. M. JONES ◽

S. C. NICKERSON ◽

W. N. PATTERSON ◽

W. E. VINSON

Keyword(s):

Somatic Cell ◽

Correlation Coefficients ◽

Dairy Herd ◽

High Volume ◽

Preliminary Evaluation ◽

Ambient Temperatures ◽

Milk Samples ◽

California Mastitis Test ◽

Cell Counts ◽

Cell Counter

This study evaluated the feasibility of using the Fossomatic somatic cell counter in the Dairy Herd Improvement Association (DHIA). DHIA utilizes preserved milk samples which have usually been stored for 1–5 days. Milk samples were stored for various periods, up to 7 days, and were preserved with (a) dichromate at 5 C, (b) dichromate at ambient temperatures, or (c) without dichromate at 5 C. These samples were evaluated with the Fossomatic and compared to direct microscopic cell counts (DMC) of these same milks when fresh. The best storage scheme was dichromate preservation at 5 C. The correlation between Fossomatic (FOM) at 7 days and DMC was .96. The regression equation was FOM = 20 + 1.11 (DMC). Analysis of variance of treatments 1 and 2 was significantly different (P < .01) with treatment 1 (dichromate at 5 C) having lower mean counts and a high correlation with DMC. Results were not sufficiently different, however, to appreciably change the evaluation of an individual cow's mastitis status. Treatment 3 (unpreserved milk) gave lower correlation coefficients than treatment 1 or 2 and at times, samples were uncountable. Comparison of the somatic cell count with bacterial isolation showed that 68% of 929 mammary quarters had <500,000 cells/ml and no bacterial infection. Agreement between California Mastitis Test (CMT) and Fossomatic scores decreased with increasing cell numbers/ml to a low of 16% agreement for CMT 3. The Fossomatic flouro-optical quantitative technique for somatic cells affords a low sample cost, high volume, accurate system adaptable for central laboratory use.

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