Milk losses and quality payment associated with somatic cell counts under different management systems in an arid climate

Sadeghi-Sefidmazgi, A. and Amer, P. R. 2015. Milk losses and quality payment associated with somatic cell counts under different management systems in an arid climate. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 95: 351–360. The objectives of this research were (1) to estimate the economic benefits or new marketing opportunities due to a reduction in milk somatic cell count (SCC) for dairy producers through improved management practices and (2) to quantify the production loss associated with SCC under different management systems. A total of 38 530 average lactation SCC records for 10 216 Holstein cows gathered on 25 dairy farms from January 2009 to October 2012 in Isfahan (Iran) were analyzed under 13 types of herd management practices including 40 levels of health, milking and housing conditions. The results show that there are many well-established management practices associated with higher-quality payment for SCC that have not yet been applied in Isfahan dairy farms. The lowest and highest economic premium opportunity (US$) from SCC were estimated to be for production systems applying washable towels for teat cleaning (5.69) and production systems with no teat disinfection (31.07) per cow per lactation. Results indicate that any increase of one unit in average lactation somatic cell score is expected to cause a significant reduction in average lactation 305-d milk yield from 36.0 to 173.4 kg, depending on the level of management practices employed. In general, farmers with higher milk yield and well-managed practices for mastitis control would lose more milk when an increase occurs in SCC.