[ estimation of national average of milk somatic cell count and production losses due to subclinical mastitis in commercial dairy herds in Iran]

ABSTRACT

Using the database of the Animal Breeding Center of Iran and based on the eligible test-day data from 78969 cows in five provinces Tehran [with 44129 cows], Ghazvin [6668], Zanjan [1767], Isfahan [7572], Khorasan-e-Razavi [14521] and others [4312] the averages of 426850 +/- 966840 and 473860 +/- 605330 cells/ml of milk somatic cell count [SCC] was calculated for individual cows and herds respectively. A Pearson's correlation coefficient of -0.174 revealed a highly significant negative correlation between test-day milk production and SCC [p<0.01]. The annual production losses of approximately 150000 tons of raw milk in the price of 420 billion Rials were estimated at the national level