Diagnosis of mastitis and indicators of milk quality

Worldwide structural changes in dairying reflected in larger herds and high yielding cows now require re-evaluation of standard mastitis diagnostics. Economic considerations are the driving motivation for the need to develop and apply new diagnostic systems which make possible continuous udder health monitoring at a reasonable cost-benefit relationship. Automated on-line systems to measure inflammatory parameters could be an appropriate alternative to traditional mastitis diagnostics. Milk quality indicators must include: • aspects of hygiene in the sense of food safety (consumer protection); • compositional criteria in terms of physiological concentration of milk constituents (technological properties), and • consumer acceptance (milk image). A variety of parameters can be applied to all these criteria. However, the most important overall indicator for milk quality seems to be the somatic cell count, because it includes hygienic, compositional and technological aspects in addition to consumer demand for healthy animals.