An economic assessment of the impacts of mastitis control procedures used in Scottish dairy herds.

摘要: Data obtained from Scottish Milk Recording Association monthly records of 328 628 cows in 756 herds between April 1994 and March 1995 were used to study relationships between milk somatic cell counts (SCC) and mastitis control procedures. Multiple regression analysis was used to estimate the technical impacts of mastitis control procedures on herd average milk yield loss and penalty payments for high bulk tank SCC. Average milk yield showed significant negative correlation with the linear and quadratic forms of weighted average SCC (WASCC). Amongst mastitis control procedures, significant interactions were shown between dry cow therapy (DCT) and milking system (MSYS), between MSYS and milking machine test (MMT), and between post-milking teat disinfection (PMTD) and udder preparation (UP); the effectiveness of PMTD in lowering WASCC was reduced when UP was also applied …