Influence of Period of the Year and Volume of Milk Shd?ped on Bulk Tank Somatic Cell Counts of Florida Dairy Farms

摘要

In Florida, bulk tank SCC (BTSCC) has a seasonal pattern with increases during the warm period and decreases during the cool period of the year (USDA-NASS, 2014), as a result of calving pattern and heat stress. The opposite occurs for milk production.However, the relationships between the volume of milk shipped, seasonality of milk production and BTSCC have not recently been documented for Florida. Secondly, ignoring the seasonality of milk production may result in an overestimation of the average BTSCC of Florida milk. The objectives of the present study were to describe the association between BTSCC with season of the year and the volume of milk shipped per farm in Florida.