index (DSCC): the percentage of granulocytes and lympho- cytes on the total amount of cells,” he says.


More chronic, more granulytes Knowing the exact numbers of the different types of cells present could determine how producers respond to elevated numbers. We know, for instance, that as mastitis becomes more and more chronic, the number of granulocytes decreas- es, explained Mr Höckels. “We also find again more macro- phages. This information is not really new, but what is new is that we can analyse them today. We don’t know exactly, but maybe if there is inflammation, maybe the number of granu- locytes increases earlier than the somatic cells. We don’t know it exactly but we are still working on this project.”


Farmer’s decision based on type and amount of cells The project works with another index as well, which Mr Höckels and his team calls ZDI – or cell differentiation index. The index shows the percentage of macrophages present within the en- tire somatic cell count. Höckels provides an example that il- lustrates just how important access to this type of data could be for the farmer. Imagine a farmer has two cows, he adds, Bertha and Else. Both have 600,000 SCC, but the cell differen- tiation of each cow is dissimilar. Bertha has 420,000 PMNs,


120,000 macrophages and 60,000 lymphocytes. Else, on the other hand, has 330,000 PMNs, 210,000 macrophages and 60,000 lymphocytes. “That means that Bertha has very acute inflammation,” Mr Höckels says. “The other cow, which has the same amount of somatic cells, has only 55% of granulocytes, but 35% macrophages. So Else, it would seem, has a more chronic event. The question, then, is what should the farmer do next? Does it make sense to treat her with antibiotics?” Mr Höckels asks. “Or maybe the results are worse than this. Maybe the farmer will decide to send the animal to slaughter.”


Working on interpretation of the results Mr Höckels is clearly excited about the technology’s potential. “Just a few weeks ago we were able to get data from milk samples out of routine analyses in a very huge amount,” he says. Today, Mr Höckels and his team at the lab are working to verify the new information, trying to find a way to make it useful on-farm. “We have to work on an interpretation for the farmers to find a good way to give the results to the farmers,” he says. “We think it makes no sense to give more data and more figures to the farmers. We have to develop a good working interpretation of these results. Maybe with a traffic light – red, yellow, green – something like this. It’s very new information, and we think that the farmer will have benefit from this,” he concludes.


▶ DAIRY GLOBAL | Volume 5, No. 4, 2018 17


Head of the milk laboratory Landeskontroll- verband Nord- rhein Westfalen Peter Höckels explains how the Fossomatic 7 DC works.


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