Cytological quality of milk of primiparous cows kept in cubicles bedded with separated manure

Abstract. A study was conducted on the effect of separated manure as bedding material on milk quality as manifested in the somatic cell count. Cows were maintained in a loose barn in cubicles bedded with fresh separated cattle manure (SCM) with 40 % solids content.

Analyses were conducted on 242 primiparous Polish Black and White Holstein-Friesian cows in the course of a 305-day lactation. Mean milk yield in that period amounted to over 9000 kg per cow. Somatic cell counts, daily milk yields and chemical composition of milk were analysed. Data were obtained from analyses of 2324 milk samples.

It was found that 93.3 % of samples contained less than 400 000 somatic cells per 1 mL milk. Approximately 4.3 % of milk samples contained the number of somatic cells indicating subclinical mastitis (200 000 cells mL⁻¹), while in 2.4 % it was clinical mastitis (> 800 000 cells mL⁻¹). The incidence rate for both forms of mastitis was similar in the beginning and at the end of lactation. Mean daily milk yield of cows producing milk classified according to quality (SCC) grades 1 (< 25 000 cells mL⁻¹) and 2 (< 25 000; 50 000 > cells mL⁻¹) was statistically significantly greater than the yields of other cows. For analysed milk constituents a relationship was found between SCC classes and contents of milk fat and solids.

Conducted analyses showed that SCM as bedding in cow cubicles had no effect on somatic cell counts in milk of primiparous cows. The study was conducted in a single holding, in one lactation, on cows calving in 2014.