Effect of daily milk production on the economic impact of mastitits in cattle herds

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to analyze and quantify the effect of daily productivity per animal on the economic impact of mastitis in dairy cattle herds. A simulation study was conducted using the CU$TO MASTITE computational program. Dairy herds with an average production of 10, 20 and 30 liters of milk/day were considered. As preventive measures, expenses with mastitis incidence monitoring (culture and antibiogram, somatic cell count in the tank and somatic cells count per animal), pre and post dipping, vaccination, and treatment of dry cows were computed. Treatments of clinical cases, which corresponded to 7% of all lactating cows, were considered as curative measures. The impact of mastitis was estimated as total losses (reduction in production and milk disposal during treatment and antibiotic withdrawal period) plus expenses with prevention and treatment of clinical cases. An increase in daily productivity per animal reduced the economic impact of mastitis. Higher productivity was associated with lower economic impact values, per liter of commercialized milk, due to optimization of the products and materials used per animal, reducing operating expenses. The expenses with preventive treatment corresponded to a maximum of 13.5% of economic impact. This percentage was lower than the economic impact of expenses with curative treatment. These results demonstrate the advantages of investing in preventive treatment, which will contribute to reduce the economic impact of mastitis.

Keywords

• bovinocultura leiteira
• prevenção
• qualidade do leite.