Reducing SCC-levels start with good immunity


When a cow fights an udder infection, the somatic cell count in the milk increases because of a spike in immune cells that are released in the cow’s body. This gives the farmer an indication of the degree of mastitis and milk quality. One effective way to keep somatic cells under control is to strengthen the cow’s immune status through active components derived from yeast.


BY VALENTIN NENOV, DVM, GLOBAL RUMINANT MANAGER, PHILEO BY LESAFFRE T


270 290


170 190 210 230 250


150 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6


Actisaf Actisaf + Safmannan


he defence system of all living animals is made of various ways to kill or reduce pathogens that enter the body. But when the conditions are right, pathogens can still become dominant and cause


disease. This is especially the case when we talk about multifactorial diseases such as mastitis in dairy cows. Mastitis occurs when there is an imbalance between the cow’s own susceptibility to (intramammary) infection, farm management and the type of pathogens present. When the balance tilts in favour of the pathogen, mastitis occurs. Mastitis is considered the greatest threat to the dairy industry and reduces animal welfare, milk quality and profits. Money is lost because of reduced milk yield, milk withdrawal, extra treatment and labour costs, and early culling. An imbalance can be caused by lack of post-milking teat disinfection (teat- dipping) or bad vacuum regulation, low immunity of the


Figure 1 - Average SCC of 8 Dutch dairy farms and the reduction seen over time.


cows, bad nutrition and sanitary conditions, and multiple mastitis causing pathogens circulating at the same time, coming from the environment of the cow, still existing from a previous infection or present on the teat skin. The good news is that pretty much most of these factors can be controlled.


SCC: An early warning system One of the best indicators to assess the risk of mastitis is so- matic cell count (SCC). SCC is composed of leukocytes, or white blood cells, that are produced by the cow’s immune system and sent to the mammary gland to fight the infection (mastitis) caused by bacteria entering through the teat canal and multiplying in the milk. High SCC numbers in bulk milk, of above 200,000, indicate subclinical mastitis and provide an early warning for the farmer that there is something wrong. Subclinical mastitis is the form in which there is no detectable change in the udder and there are no observable abnormali- ties in the milk from a human eye perspective. Monitoring SCC is especially critical in diagnosing cows with subclinical mastitis since no visible signs of an inflammation are ob- served by the dairy producer. This allows us to take measures as early as possible before subclinical cases become clinical, and intervention of antibiotic treatment is needed. High SCCs are related to a milk premium or penalty, and directly affect milk production (Table 1). If we consider the reduced milk production and increase in cases of clinical mastitis and cull- ing rates, we can estimate that a farm with 100 cows and av- erage yield of 8,000kg/cow/year could actually gain around


Table 1 – Relation between somatic cell count (SCC) and estimated milk losses.


SCC (cells/ml) in bulk milk < 100,000 200 300 400 500 600


Milk loss (%)


3 6 7 8 9


10


Estimated milk production loss per cow/year (kg) 180 360 450 540 590 635


Based on average 6,300-6,800 kg average/cow/year. Source: Mastitis: Counter Attack, Philpot and Nickerson (1991).


44 ▶ ANTIBIOTIC REDUCTION | DECEMBER 2021


SCC (x1000 cells/ml)


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