EFFECT OF YEAR, STAGE OF LACTATION, PARITY, BREED AND REGION ON GOAT MILK SOMATIC CELL COUNTS

摘要

The milk somatic cell count (MSCC) is the basis for abnormal milk control programs for cows, goats and sheep. In the United States (US) the legal MSCC limit established by the Food and Drug Administration for cows is 750,000/ml and for goats and sheep1,000,000/ml. In the European Union (EU) (Directive 92/46ECC Council, 1992) the legal limit for cows is 400,000/ml and there is no legal limit for goats and sheep. The MSCC has evolved into an accepted parameter for the evaluation of milk quality and asa management tool for dairymen worldwide. While MSCC is an accepted procedure for evaluating cow and sheep milk, it is not applicable to goat milk. MSCC for uninfected goats appear to be higher than counts for uninfected cows and sheep. Factors other than intramammary infection such as management practices, stage of lactation, parity and caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus infection contribute to an elevation of MSCC of goats. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of year, stage of lactation, parity, breed and region on MSCC for goats.