Dl4-Lancaster Farming Saturday, June 2,1990 J. BOYER, W. HEALD, S. SPENCER PA OHIA and Penn State Extension Revised Spring 1990 The most costly disease in dairy cattle is mastitis, and the most accurate measure of udder health that appears on DHIA records is the somatic cell count (SCC). Esti mates of mastitis costs are $l5O-$2OO per cow per year, and nearly 70 of the dollars lost to mas titis arc due to subclinical, or hid den mastitis. The most practical way to measure this hidden masti tis is with DHIA somatic cell counting monthly. If you are enrolled in the soma tic cell testing program, you will find a “Somatic Cell Management Report” included with the DHIA monthly reports. This report con tains an analysis in a particularly unique format. The front side of the report includes current test data and historical information for your herd. The back side lists individual cow data for the highest fifty-five somatic cell cows in your herd, or less if your herd has fewer than 55 cows. The first highlighted area or box shows a distribution of cows by SCC linear score for the current test date. The mean, or average score for your herd as well as the average weighed SCC/ml for the sampled herd. The linear SCC score can be used as an indicator of overall herd health, while the SCC count on this sample day if all of the cows in the herd contribute milk to the tank. This can vary greatly from the processing plant lest. The SCC count is a calculated value using the individual cow cell count and weighing it in accor dance with her production. One cow can produce 40% of the cells in (he tank, and, if Iter milk is with held from DHIA or tank milk, a large difference can be seen in SCC/ml. Herd average linear scoreds of 3.0 and below are best for maximum milk and profit. In the next box, a monthly com parison of the average linear score for the herd on each test date over the last year appears. For the cor responding test dates, you will see the number of new infections that began on the indicated date, and the number of chronic infections in the herd at that time. A cow is con sidered to be infected Mien her linear score is 4.0 or greater; severely infected when her linear score is 5.0 or greater, and chroni cally infected when her linear score is 4.0 or greater for more than one test in a lactation. The totals given may help you to evaluate the overall effectiveness of your mas titis control program. You should consult with your veterinarian for culturing and treatment procedures for high SCC cows. Once a cow is chronic during a lactation, she remains chronic regardless of whether she has mastitis on the current test. Therefore, the totals given for some items need to be considered carefully in evaluating the udder health of your herd. A chart in the center right box of the page is a bar graph which summar izes the average linear scores for your herd over the last year. This chart corresponds to the average linear scores from most to least recent test, with the most recent test represented by the top bar. In the center of the page are numbers indicating the amount of milk in pounds and number of dol lars lost due to high somatic cell levels. The dollar value is based upon the fact that a cow loses about 1.5 pounds of milk per day for each Reading The PA DHIA SCC Management Report linear score count above 2.0. It does not attempt to take into account intangible (but signific ant) effects of high SCC such as the loss of dollars on premium programs when infected cows’ milk is used in the bulk tank, or the cost of treatment for mastitis. Immediately below the milk and money loss figures is a box giving the mean or average rolling SCC count and linear score. It is an aver age of the previous 12 months herd data. A current infection status box in the middle left, gives a breakdown DHIA SAMPLE HERD sasßiii Oat* Tested Chronic Infectioi Note Chronically-infected animals have scored 4 0 or higher at least twice during their current lactation (not necessarily on this test) Note Newly-infected animals are those whose score is 4 0 or higher lor the first time Current DAYS IN MILK Average / Total HERD-ID; 23-99-9999 Barn Name SIDNEY BAMBIE MISS DIPPER OOTTIE DEEOEE EMILY UETALEE DEHDRDP •RHYTHM DIVDEND SUZIE of newly infected, and chronically infected cows based on the first and later lactations. These same categories are used in the boxes at the very bottom of the herd SCC page, which attempts to break down the herd into groups based on the number of days in milk. For each of these stages of lactation, the number of cows, amount of testday milk, average linear score, and number of new infections are shown. First lactation groups should obviously have fewer new infections and lower linear SCC scores because of their less fre quent exposure to mastitis causing bacteria. The back page is an individual cow summary which shows the identity of the animal by bam name and control number. Cows are ranked in decreasing order from high testday SCC to low. The mean or average linear score for C/0 Raw SCC Mean LS 153.000 Dale Tested Mean Score New Infections First Lactation New Chronic 0.0 50.0 0-30 31-99 100 - 200 - 299 300 + COWS WITH HIGHEST LINEAR SCC THIS MONTH Vialbla Id IndtK 29 27 35 29 this lactation appears in the next column. Production information including testday milk, an esti mated (or actual) 305, days in milk, and milk lost due to SCC appear in the next columns. The percentage of this individual’s contribution to the bulk tank appears next You should note that even though the severity of an infection is based on the linear score, the amount of somatic cell in the bulk tank is based on the raw SCC/ml. So a handful of cows, or even a single, severely infected animal, may make the largest per- PENNSYLVANIA DHIA SCC MANAGEMENT REPORT 0.0 0.0 Sacond(+) Lactation Current Now 0.0 9.0 SCC Lmaar Scot* Milk Production Toctday Tatiday Moan Nutrition System In Operation The long awaited DHIA Nutri tion System has been released for commercial use by the designers at Penn State. The initial introduction began in five herds in Centre and Clinton counties in March and will continue to be limited to those counties until detailed plans to introduce it in other counties are completed in several more weeks. If all goes well, the system should be available in all areas of the state late this year. If you are anxious to subscribe, please con tact Joe Hayes at the DHIA Service Center, 1-800-344-8378. Prostaph I Released Pro Staph I, the rapid test for the presence of Staph, aureus antibo dies in DHIA milk samples, was centage contributions to the bulk tank. Frequently this milk should be withheld from the tank until additional SCC tests give a result nearer herd goal. Finally, some historical and reproductive information is given for each cow that appears on the page. Cows confirmed pregnant are marked in the last column with a “Y”. For bred cows a due date will also appear. In order to help you identify problem animals, the number of times a cow has had a severe infection is given for each cow with linear score 5.0 or grea- 0.0 Milk Chronic Raw 183.001 18.1 Milk Lorn D«y« in Milk 15.40* 11,044 16.*33 21,7*6 16,100 17,720 14,415 11,57* 21,900 21,7*7 19,728 20.2*1 34 2*l 2*3 151 245 BO Service Update released for use last January. The usage has been somewhat disap pointing so far, with only about 2,000 samples analyzed. Researchers at Penn State are continuing to evaluate the proce dure’s accuracy under special con ditions, such as in herds with evi dence of a very high incidence of Staph, aureus infections. We hope /I FOCUS 1 f" 1 7 1 Pennsylvania / Dairy He rd I \ Call 1-800-DHI-TEST for service or information improvement Association ) 15.3 Oat* Tatttd 3/16/90 2/20/90 1/15/90 12/19/99 11/13/99 10/18/99 9/12/99 9/12/89 7/13/89 6/15/89 5/14/89 4/13/89 Money 858.06 Linear tt-Bulk Tank Date rirat Inlaciad Timm Savara 11/13/4* 7/i3/a* 3778 14.7 2/20/90 1/15/90 ter. You can track seasonal prob lems, or the progress of your mas titis program by noting the first infection dates given for those ani mals that have had some history of infection. In general, herds that have a high SCC are infected with conta gious organisms. In the event of a high herd bulk tank count, review your teat dip and dry cow treat ment program. Make sure you are using a teat dip product with known efficiency and use approved dry cow treatment products. 30.7 30.7 2.5 DATE; 03/21/80 12/18/»0 B/11/80 12/oe/to 7/12/80 B/18/80 11/13/90 7/01/80 12/08/90 to have an update based on that research by July. Heifer Management System Development work continues for the heifer management service. Several report formats have been set up to be discussed with mem bers soon. A pilot test of the sys tem is anticipated for late this sum mer. 03/21/10 1 & 0 Pr«gn«nt f
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