Abstract
Intramammary infection (IMI) can cause mastitis, which is one of the costliest and most prevalent diseases in dairy cattle herds. Somatic cell count (SCC) is a well-established parameter to indicate IMI, and it represents the total count of immune cells in the milk. The differential somatic cell count (DSCC) has also long been suggested to indicate IMI, but no machine was available until recently to provide this parameter automatically. Two new machines have recently been introduced to measure the milk DSCC as an additional indicator of IMI. Here we provide insights about the DSCC measured by these two machines and the value it may provide for udder health management, based on the available literature. We also provide perspectives for future research to investigate potential value in using the DSCC to improve udder health.
Highlights
Mastitis is the inflammation of the mammary gland
Several indicators have been proposed to monitor the occurrence of mastitis in dairy cows on a routine basis, including the widely used individual cow somatic cell count (SCC), which represents the total number of immune cells in the milk (3)
Several studies have suggested the use of differential somatic cell count (DSCC), which distinguishes between the different immune cells in the milk [see Table 1]
Summary
Mastitis is the inflammation of the mammary gland. It causes welfare and economic damage for the dairy industry worldwide (1). The use of DSCC as an indicator of IMI was limited to research studies due to the unavailability of machinery to produce this parameter on a large scale. A high throughput machinery for regular Dairy Improvement Health testing (15) and an on-farm machine (16) have recently become available, allowing large scale measurement of DSCC. This warrants the investigation of the usefulness of this parameter for udder health management in dairy cattle herds. We provide perspectives for future research to investigate the potential value of using the DSCC in dairy herds
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