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For nearly 50 years, the National Mastitis Council (NMC) has provided information to the dairy industry on udder health, mastitis control, milking management, milk quality, and milk safety. No other organization in the world has more resources related to the production of low somatic cell count, high quality milk!

Check out the “resources” section of this website, or utilize the “search” function to find articles and reports of interest.

Still looking for more?  If you are an NMC member, you can access the “members-only” section and search the Online Proceedings Library, where you will find all of the papers presented at all of the NMC annual meetings and NMC regional meetings since 2001 —  over 800 papers and poster presentations!  The proceedings library is fully searchable and very user-friendly.

If you need more information about NMC membership, click here.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture monitors milk quality in the U.S. using bulk tank milk somatic cell count (SCC) data provided by four of the nation’s 10 Federal Milk Marketing Orders (FMOs), which account for nearly half of the nation’s milk supply.

Click here  to read about the results from 2009, including the % of milk and the % of producers in the federal orders monitored that met the current U.S. federal regulatory SCC limit  of 750,000; and the percentages that would have met a 400,000 limit (current regulatory limit in the European Union).

Somatic cell count (SCC) in Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI) herds enrolled in SCC testing in the U.S. averaged 233,000 in 2009, which was less than the 2008 average of 262,000. This compares to 276,000 in 2007; 288,000 in 2006; and 296,000 in 2005.

Most states (42) had lower average SCC than the previous year; only six states had higher averages. Variation among states remains large, ranging from less than 200,000 to more than 400,000. State average SCC was lower than the national average for mountain and western states, and often higher for southeastern states.

The current federal SCC regulatory limit in the U.S. is 750,000, except in California where it is 600,000. In many other major dairy countries, the SCC limit is 400,000.

The overall percentage of herd test days that exceeded 400,000, 500,000, 600,000, and 750,000 during 2009 were 18.9%, 10.3%, 5.8% and 2.7%, respectively. (The 2.7% figure may overestimate the percentage of herds with milk exceeding the legal limit for bulk tank SCC on test day, because the milk of cows treated for mastitis is included in DHI test data, but is excluded from the bulk tank.)

[Read more....]

Milk quality in Dairy Herd Information (DHI) herds enrolled in SCC testing improved last year, as the average SCC went from 276,000 cells/ml in 2007 to 262,000 in 2008. This compares to 288,000 in 2006 and 296,000 in 2005.

Most states (41) saw a lower average SCC than the previous year; only eight states experienced a higher average SCC. As in the past, variation among states remained large. State average SCCs were lower than the national average in the far West and higher in the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and Central states.

The current SCC limit in the U.S. is 750,000, except in California where it is 600,000. In many other major dairy countries, the SCC limit is 400,000.

The overall percentage of herd test days that exceeded 400,000, 500,000, 600,000, and 750,000 during 2008 were 22.4%, 12.5%, 7.1% and 3.4%, respectively. The 3.4% figure may overestimate the percentage of herds with milk exceeding the legal limit for bulk tank SCC on test day, because the milk of cows treated for mastitis is included in DHI test data, but is excluded from the bulk tank.

As herd size increased, average daily milk production generally increased and average SCC generally declined. For herds with fewer than 50 cows, the percentage of test days with SCC more than 750,000 was 6.0% of the time. It occurred on only 1.7% and 1.0% of the test days for herds with 50 to 99 and 100 to 149 cows, respectively, and averaged only 0.6% of the test days for the remaining large herds. [See report details.]

During 2007, the average SCC in U.S. herds enrolled in Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI) somatic cell testing was 276,000. This compares to 288,000 in 2006 and 296,000 in 2005.

A majority of states (27) had lower average SCC than last year; 21 states had higher. Variation among states was large. State average SCC’s were often lower than the national average in the Northeast, upper Midwest, and the far West and higher in the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Central states, a finding consistent with previous reports.

The current SCC limit in the U.S. is 750,000. The SCC limit in many other major dairy countries is 400,000. The percentages of herd test days that exceeded 400,000, 500,000, 600,000, and 750,000 during 2007 were 24%, 13.4%, 7.6% and 3.5%, respectively. This percentage may overestimate the percentage of herds that shipped milk exceeding the legal limit for bulk tank SCC on test day because the milk of cows treated for mastitis is excluded from the bulk tank even though included in DHI test data.

As herd size increased, average daily milk generally increased, and average SCC declined until herd size exceeded 3,000 cows. For herds with less than 50 cows, the percentage of test days with SCC over 750,000 was 5.9%. It occurred on only 2.0% and 1.3% of the test days for herds with 50 to 99 and 100 to 149 cows, respectively, and averaged 0.7% of the test days for the remaining large herds.

[Read the details here.]

During 2006, average SCC in U.S. herds enrolled in Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI) somatic cell testing was 288,000. This compares to 296,000 in 2005. The percentages of herds that exceeded 750,000, 600,000, 500,000, and 400,000 during 2006 were 3.9%, 8.3%, 14.3% and 25.2%, respectively. The current SCC limit in the U.S. is 750,000.

The trend for SCC’s over the last five years are encouraging. Hopefully average SCC will continue to decline in the future due to both genetic selection and improved management practices.

[Read the full article.]