The financial benefits of optimal udder health

By Andre Rigo – AHV International

Udder Health is an essential health parameter for every farmer worldwide. Udder Health is not just the result of genetics, but an overall result of a healthy animal.  Udder health will be improved directly and indirectly by improving animal welfare and the general well-being.

Direct costs of udder health challenges

Most farmers mention udder health as one of the main challenges on farm due to direct and indirect costs. Direct costs are caused by milk losses due to udder health issues. Indirect costs are based on milk yield losses and cows that need to be replaced early (Fernandes et al., 2021).

Cows dealing with udder health challenges will lose a lot of energy by activating her immune system. Immune cells require a lot of energy when dealing with a constantly present host. Cows with a healthy udder reach a higher peak in yields and have higher persistence. Daily losses due to udder health concerns will rise up to $1.30/cow per day in the first month to $2.26/cow per day in month 10 (Hadrich et al., 2018).

Effect on fertility and conception rate

Cows with an increased SCC on the first milk test will lead to more udder health challenges in the same lactation, possibly resulting in a higher culling rate (Fernandes et al., 2021). An increased SCC does not only effect udder performance, but also fertility.

Research has shown that even mild udder health challenges lead to a drop in conception rate up to 14.3% (Lavon et al., 2011). This means those compromised cows with udder health issues will have more open days, in combination with a lower persistency and an increase in lactation days due to the extra open days. The cow has a higher risk to dry off with a body condition score that is too high. This will not be cost-effective during the end of the lactation. On a daily basis cows with udder health challenges produce less milk and are therefore less profitable. Due to a lower persistency (figure 1) and a lower conception rate, cows with udder health challenges are culled earlier in the same lactation in comparison to a healthy cow.

Udder health protocol

Farmers can prevent difficult decisions by keeping udders healthy. A good Udder Health program keeps the udder clean and free of problematic bacteria, which results in a better performance. Cows will have a higher persistency resulting in more milk yield later in the lactation. Next to that, cows will have fewer days open. So, each cow can repeat their peak yield faster, and by this, the total farm revenue will increase.

Sources:

Hadrich, J. C., Wolf, C. A., Lombard, J., & Dolak, T. M. (2018). Estimating milk yield and value losses from increased somatic cell count on US dairy farms. Journal of Dairy Science, 101(4), 3588–3596. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2017-13840

Fernandes, L., Guimaraes, I., Noyes, N. R., Caixeta, L. S., & Machado, V. S. (2021). Effect of subclinical mastitis detected in the first month of lactation on somatic cell count linear scores, milk yield, fertility, and culling of dairy cows in certified organic herds. Journal of Dairy Science, 104(2), 2140–2150.

Lavon, Y., Ezra, E., Leitner, G., & Wolfenson, D. (2011). Association of conception rate with pattern and level of somatic cell count elevation relative to time of insemination in dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science, 94(9), 4538–4545. https://doi.org/1