Infection level no good for cull plan
4 August 2000
Infection level no good for cull plan
CELL counts cannot be used to make reliable culling decisions, according to an MDC study at ADAS Bridgets, Hants.
Researcher Helen Biggadike told the BCVA meeting that it was not possible to predict which cows or quarters would have a high cell count in the following lactation, based on previous lactation data.
"Cows having mastitis will have a high cell count in the next lactation, but you still cant cull these cows to significantly reduce cell counts or mastitis in the following lactation."
Her research showed that reducing a herd cell count from 200,000 to 150,000 would require 65% of the herd to be culled. "Removing the top 10% of cows on cell count appears to reduce cell count by some degree, but you would need to look closely at those animals."
Mastitis could not be used to decide which cows to cull either, she added. "Reducing incidence by a significant amount would mean culling 50% of the herd." *