Monitoring, prevention and treatment as key pillars in the management of bovine mastitis

Abstract

The quality of milk is a component based on certain individual indicators that allow the correct assessment of the quality of the dairy product starting from the producing animal, the quality of the feed, the exploitation system, the state of health, milking hygiene, the storing and transportation conditions of milk towards the processing unit. The purpose of this study was to monitor udder health and establish a proper treatment based on a specialized protocol that employs the assessment of physicochemical milk parameters, number of somatic cells, as well as identification of the pathogen agent generating the disease. Milk samples from 69 dairy cows were collected at the beginning and middle of lactation, a total number of 19 cases of clinical and subclinical mastitis cases being observed. The physicochemical parameters of milk, somatic cell count, and pathogen prevalence were assessed. A very small significant negative relationship was observed between somatic cell score and lactose percentage, (r = 0.667, p < .001). The most frequent encountered pathogens were Streptococcus spp. A management approach for mastitis, as well as other diseases, should include the following major components: prevention, monitoring, and diagnosis.