The Visual Appearance and Somatic Cell Count of Mammary Secretions Collected from Primigravid Heifers During Gestation and Early Postpartum

¹ The Upjohn Company, 7000 Portage Road, Kalamazoo, MI 49001
² Washington State University, Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Pullman 99164-6610
³ University of Vermont, Department of Animal Science, Swth Burlington 05403
⁴ Louisiana State University, Hill Farm Research Station, Homer 71040
⁵ University of California-Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinary Medicine Teaching and Research Center, Tulare 93724

Mammary secretions, obtained before and after calving, were examined for visual appearance, SCC, and bacteriology as part of a larger study determining the prevalence of IMI in 1588 primigravid heifers. Appearance of secretions was categorized into five groups: thin and watery, honey-like, serumy, milky, or thickened colostrum. Recalving secretions were further characterized as low viscosity (thin and watery, serumy, or milky) or high viscosity (honey-like and thickened colostrum). Postcalving secretions were further characterized as normal (milky, thickened colostrum) or abnormal (thin and watery, serumy. or honey-like), Infected precalving quarters (81%) had low viscosity secretions. Quarters that were uninfected precalving (75%) had high viscosity secretions. Greater than 90% of all postcalving milk samples appeared to be normal, regardless of geographic location, season, or bacterial infection status. Only 77% of the samples from quarters infected with contagious and noncontagious mastitis pathogens had normal appearance. Precalving SCC from bacteriologically negative quarters were lower than SCC from infected quarters. Similarly, postcalving SCC were lower from the bacteriologically negative quarters than from the infected quarters. Infected quarters had higher mean SCC than the uninfected quarters during both pre- and postcalving periods.

Key Words: somatic cell count • mastitis • heifer • secretion

Submitted on July 13, 1994
Accepted on January 31, 1995

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