A. Zecconi et al., FIELD-STUDY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEAT THICKNESS CHANGES AND INTRAMAMMARY INFECTIONS, Journal of Dairy Research, 63(3), 1996, pp. 361-368
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%.