Abstract
Mastitis is one of the most costly health problems of dairy cattle. Herd average somatic cell counts (SCC) have been measured and used since 1977 as a means of identifying high levels of mastitis in herds. Although good management is an effective means of reducing mastitis the costs and penalties introduced in payment schemes, for high cell counts, has focused attention on breeding to reduce the incidence of mastitis through indirect selection for lower SCC. Optional, individual cow SCC recording commenced in 1991 and approximately 0.80 of all cows are now recorded. This paper presents the results of SCC evaluations for three dairy breeds.
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