Evaluation of the effect of local massage on milk production and udder immunity of dairy cows

Abstract

Milk somatic cell count (SCC) is a common method of assessing the quality of milk produced and the status of mastitis. Massage improves the level of cellular immunity. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of massage on udder immune system according to SCC and milk production. For this purpose, 14 high-producing cows aged about 3 years which had given birth three months ago were chosen. The cows were then divided into control and treatment groups. The treatment group received udder massage twice a day for four weeks. During the investigation, weekly SCC was conducted. The rate of milk production was also recorded on day zero and in the sixth week which was the last week of massaging in the treatment group. The results indicated a dramatic and non-significant (p >0.05) increase of SCC and a significant decrease of milk production in the treatment group. There was no significant difference in SCC between the two groups except in the third week and no significant correlation was observed between milk production and SCC. But the difference in average milk production between the two groups at the end of the sixth week was significant (p <0.05) in comparison to the first week. The results of the present study indicated that long-term massage is stressful and decreases the level of udder immunity and subsequent milk production.

Keywords

• massage
• immune system
• somatic cell
• dairy cows
• mastitis