Somatic Cell Count, Electrical Conductivity, and Serum Albumin Concentration for Detecting Bovine Mastitis

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Abstract
Cell concentration, electrical conductivity and serum albumin concentration of milk were evaluated for predicting infection status of quarters in 3 herds. Probability of misclassifying quarters was lowest for cell concentration. For discriminating quarters infected with Staphylococcus aureus from quarters free from infection, probability of misclassification for cell concentration ranged from 8-20% among herds. For electrical conductivity, probability of misclassification ranged between 22-32%; for serum albumin the range among herds was 15-48%. Among herds there was also considerable variation of the trait, which minimized the probability of misclassification. Cell concentrations for the 3 herds were 158, 200 and 251 .times. 103 cells/ml; electrical conductivity counts were 4.6, 5.8 and 6.5 mS/cm. Comparison of electrical conductivity and serum albumin within a cow by differences and ratios from different quarters yielded little advantage over absolute estimations. For a single sampling, cell concentration provided the most accurate prediction of quarter infection status; 200 .times. 103 cells/ml should be the threshold above which quarters are considered likely to be infected with a major pathogen.