It is vital for a farmer to prioritise controlling somatic cell count (SCC), as it is a key a element to supplying high-quality milk.
Although maintaining a good SCC isn’t always easy, it should always remain a priority and there are a number of factors to be considered when looking to control cell counts.
A good milking routine is the essence of disease and cell count control. The maintenance of your parlour, your hygiene standards, and the genetic make-up of the cows are all contributing factors to controlling SCC.
As we have entered into the mid-lactation period and are into the peak milk supply months, the focus has turned to getting cows to their peak milk production, but your cell count should not be neglected.
Somatic cell count
Somatic cells are a mixture of milk-producing cells shed from the udder tissue and cells from the immune system, known as white blood cells.
The reality is, that some cows are more likely to have issues with SCC than others as it is just part of their genetics – where there is a large amount of records, you can trace cow families that have similar issues.
The genetic make-up of certain cows can make them more susceptible to certain diseases, lameness, and cell count issues.
Milk SCC levels above 100,000 will mean that you are losing money and on average mastitis will cost a farmer €60/cow/year, according to Teagasc research.
The best way to reduce you SCC is through good practices, and allocating time and attention to the problem.
The best scenario would be to rectify issues with your milk quality advisor, your vet, and your milking technician, so that all angles are covered.
There is a number of factors to consider to reduce your cell count, such as:
- Testing and servicing your milking machine every nine to 12 months;
- Making sure the cows have a clean environment (roadways, milking parlour, cubicles);
- Contagious mastitis control through good milking preparation procedures;
- Post milking teat disinfection as it reduces new infection rates by 50%;
- Sufficient dry cow therapy as it cures subclinical infection and prevents new infection at drying-off.;
- Maintaining a hygienic environment during the dry period and at calving is crucial.
Milk recording
Milk recording is essential to get the data of each cow and identify which cows have chronic cell count issues, and to also pick up on cows that has increasing cell count.
In turn, this will reduce the risk of spreading contagious mastitis as you will know the high SCC cows in the herd.
Milk recording in the mid-lactation will also identify high achieving cows and those boosting herd performance to make breeding decisions easier.
Another simple way of identifying cows with SCC problems is through the use of a California Matitis Test (CMT) kit.
It is not unusual for cell counts to fluctuate throughout the year but if there is a constant upward trend in SCC, measures need to be taken as soon as possible.
Genotyping
With the new genotyping scheme for dairy cows, there is a potential for it to make significant changes to the dairy sector.
A focus of the scheme was to get a DNA profile of the national herd, which should provide us with more precise information on individual cows.
This will allow for the identification of source cows of high SCC in a single bulk milk sample.
The somatic cells would carry the DNA of the cows, meaning that the identification of your high SCC cows should be straight forward, which will then allow you to remove these cows from the herd.
Likewise, rapid treatment or remedial action can take place as you will be able to identify the cows that have caused a spike in SCC within the bulk tank.
If you can make use out of all these methods to limit SCC, producing high quality milk should come relatively easier which will maximise your profits and minimise your costs of treatment.