FIELD-STUDY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEAT THICKNESS CHANGES AND INTRAMAMMARY INFECTIONS

The aim of this study was to describe the results of teat thickness me asurement applied routinely in three commercial dairy herds and to eva luate the influence of machine-induced teat thickness changes on intra mammary infection and the frequency of new infection. A total of 1018 fore milk samples and the same number of teat apex measurements have b een evaluated. Overall, relative teat thickness changes were normally distributed (mean -0.16%, SD 10.15%), while a specific pattern could b e observed within herds. Increases in teat thickness of > 5% were sign ificantly associated with infection and new infection (odds ratio > 1) , but the association was not significant when teat thickness decrease d by more than 5%. When results were classified according to aetiology , analysis showed that coagulase-negative staphylococcal infections we re significantly associated with both increases and decreases in teat thickness numerically greater than 5%.