Dj. Wilson et al., EFFECTS OF STAGE OF LACTATION, PRODUCTION, PARITY AND SEASON ON SOMATIC-CELL COUNTS IN INFECTED AND UNINFECTED DAIRY GOATS, Small ruminant research, 16(2), 1995, pp. 165-169
A commercial, dairy goat farm with 380 Alpine milking does maintained
monthly records of milk production and somatic cell counts (SCC). Comp
osite milk samples from all lactating does were cultured for mastitis
pathogens every 6 months. Dairy Herd Improvement Association records w
ere combined with culture results. Goats' SCC increased with intramamm
ary infection (IMI). Increasing stage of lactation was also associated
with increased SCC in goats with or without diagnosis of IMI. Lower m
ature equivalent milk production and increased parity were also associ
ated with higher cell counts. Goats lactating during October, December
and January (months with highest mean DIM) had increased SCC. Non-inf
ected goats frequently had SCC greater than 1 000 000 ml(-1). Much (ap
proximately 90%) of the difference in goats' SCC was not due to IMI. O
f the variation in SCC among does, 77% was unexplained. Alternative te
sts for goat milk quality would be beneficial for the industry.