Total bacterial count and somatic cell count as indicators of milk production losses in dairy herds

Abstract

Bovine mastitis is the most relevant disease in dairy cattle worldwide, causing significant losses to producers, the dairy industry and consumers. The objective of this study was to evaluate the economic impact of bovine mastitis on production and economy under Brazilian farm conditions. For this, milk production and economic losses were estimated in relation to bulk milk somatic cell counts (BMSCC) and total bacterial counts (TBC) in herds of the mesoregion of Campos das Vertentes, an important dairy region of Minas Gerais State. In order to calculate the production losses, were calculated the means of three BMSCC of 306 dairy herds, obtained at intervals of 15 days between the collections. The losses were estimated through the linear regression equation: Y = - 4.7908 + 0.0226x, where the variable "x" represents the BMSCC, and “Y” represents the estimative of milk production losses. The mean values of BMSCC and TBC among the farms studied were 482,650 cells / mL and 43,710 CFU / mL of milk, respectively. About 35.6% and 7, 84% of the establishments were above to the BMSCC and TBC limits established by the current legislation, respectively. The results showed that the average daily production in the farms was 488.43 liters of milk, and the average daily production losses due to mastitis among the farms were 6.80%. No significant differences were observed regarding the production losses as a function of the milk production scores of the properties. The results obtained evidenced the need for a more effective control of mastitis, aiming to minimize losses of milk production and to improve economic indexes, as well as to increase the sanity of the herd and the quality of the raw milk produced.