ElO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 22,1986
BY GEORGE F. W. HAENLEIN
Extension Dairy Specialist
University of Delaware
NEWARK, DE - After July 1,
1986, somatic cell counts (SCC)
above 1 million per milliliter (ml)
m milk from a farm will halt
further milk shipments from that
farm!
Somatic cell counts over 1
million per milliliter mostly mean
leucocytes or white blood cells in a
tank load of milk. They are signs of
infection, irritation or stress in the
udders of some or many cows in
the herd shipping that milk.
Some researchers say that stress
alone won’t increase somatic cell
counts in milk; infection must be
present. However, no cow’s udder
is sterile inside. Potential in
fection-causing microorganisms
are always present inside the teats
and other parts of the udder. Many
more are waiting outside to march
in or to be sucked in at least twice a
day.
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Reducing leucocytes in milk
Some of our research on the
University of Delaware
Agricultural Experiment Station
dairy herd indicates the possibility
of increased somatic cell counts in
the milk of some cows whose ud
ders, when sampled and cultured,
are found to be negative for
pathogens. We’ve even found that
estrogens can increase somatic
cell levels for example, on the
day a cow comes naturally in heat,
after she receives an estrogen
injection for estrus syn
chronization or for embryo
transfer work. Even moldy feed
such as silage, hay or just stale
grain can affect SCC levels,
because moldy feeds have
estrogenic activities.
We’ve also found that SCC in the
Delaware dairy herd are often
higher in the last milk when the
udder is vigorously massaged
empty, in the milk of fresh cows for
the first five days and in the milk of
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cows during the last month before
drying off.
All of which means that reducing
leucocyte counts in milk requires
us to adopt a strategy that reduces
leucocyte counts in tank milk to be
shipped by sidetracking the other
milk for on-farm uses such as
feeding calves and pigs until
cows with high counts have
straightened out, as checked by
individual SCC testing.
The point I want to make is that
not all high SCC cows need
treatment or butchering. Here are
some steps you can take to pinpoint
and quickly solve the problem
without losing a good cow:
• Change feed rations away from
known or suspected moldy feed
sources or suppliers.
• Test rations for zinc levels, and
probable zinc absorption levels. In
some cases, response to sup
plementary zinc will be quick.
• Check every cow’s teat ends
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for inversions due to faulty milking
equipment and procedure. Correct
these mechanical causes.
• Here in our Delaware dairy
herd we are working with the most
recent innovation of quarter
milking rather than udder
milking. Soon this concept will be
commercially available as another
powerful tool to reduce cross
udder infections and elevated SCC.
• Check your milking parlor for
possible stray voltage after
washing udders, when electric
conductivity is much increased.
• Try to switch to dry milking by
clipping udder hair often and
keeping cows clean all day, to
eliminate the need for udder
washing.
In recent Wisconsin studies, only
23 percent of high SCC were cured
by antibacterial treatments. This
underlines the fact that other
remedies than antibiotics can often
be more effective. This includes
regular, complete and clean teat
dipping, no slipping of teat cups
with vacuum searching, perhaps
even use of automatic teat cup
removers and backflushing.
Lowering leucocyte counts may
also include genetics, which we’ve
ignored since we succeeded in
selecting our cows against those
bell-shaped teats and pendulous
udders of former years. New North
Carolina studies show less SCC in
cows with pointed teats than with
round, flat, disc shaped or worst,
inverted teat ends especially in
the rear quarters.
And new Wisconsin studies show
that somatic cell counts differ
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between daughters of different
hulls So in the future we may see
USDA indexes for SCC on bull
proofs along with the familiar ones
for milk, fat and protein.
Finally, labor incentives may
become effective tools in reducing
leucocyte counts. Just as a
premium payment from the milk
processing plant is a good in
centive to the herd owner, so low-
SCC incentive pay plans to herds
men and milkers should work.
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