High SCC w/o mastitis symptoms?

[AnnaS]

This is actually a goat but I think I'll get better results here...

3rd freshener doe who has had a high SCC all year. She averages 6.5 SCC LS while the herd average is 4.9 out of 7 head. She has no symptoms other than high SCC- no odd milk, no heat in udder (all hand milked), never been off feed or had a temp. She does have low butterfat but so did her dam.

Treated with Today in July, no effect on SCC. The Dec. test was REALLY high so now I'm concerned.

She's the herd queen and highest producer by about 25%. Kind of an ornery critter too.

Milk samples go to DHIA lab tomorrow for culture & sensitivity but I'd like to hear some speculation from dairymen as to what might be the cause.

[DaleK]

It could be absolutely nothing, just genetic. In cattle, I'd suspect Prototheca, but I have no idea if goats get it or not. Don't know if they test for it in goats or not either.

[Jennifer L.]

She could have a subclinical case of mastitis that doesn't show in the milk but keeps her shedding cells. Also, some kinds of bacteria make cows shed more cells than others. Probably works the same way in goats.

Getting the culture/sensitivity done is a good idea and will give you the most bang for your buck on the antibiotics.

Jennifer

[JeffNY]

Bacteria can cause elevated SCC, without Mastits signs. With cattle Staph Aurelis can cause higher SCC, and other bacteria. If she comes back completely clean, she could simply be higher than the average, which could be age as well.



Jeff

[AnnaS]

Results came back- totally negative for strep and staph aureus, positive for Staph sp. The sensitivity test was a real surprise- resistant to everything except pirlimycen (Pirsue). I had an uncertified but OCIA compliant herd (no antibiotics) until this May. The doe has never had antibiotics except for the Today treatment.

Kinda scary.

Just my luck I have to get the staph that's only susceptible to the $$$$ treatment.

[Charleen]

I know you're already gotten the results, but I just wanted to say that I remember when our goats first went on DHIR milk test. One of the first things we learned that mastitis will always cause a high SCC but a high SCC is not always caused by mastitis.

Hope you work things out okay with her. Do you have a peppermint oil/cream to rub on her udder. That helps a lot with edema.

[AnnaS]

Originally Posted by Charleen

Do you have a peppermint oil/cream to rub on her udder. That helps a lot with edema.

Thanks Charleen- I have Udder Comfort, had good luck with it in FF with slight edema. This mastic doe doesn't have any edema though- if you didn't know her SCC & culture results, you would think she's totally normal. Another good reason to be on test!

[Terry W]

Originally Posted by AnnaS

Results came back- totally negative for strep and staph aureus, positive for Staph sp. The sensitivity test was a real surprise- resistant to everything except pirlimycen (Pirsue). I had an uncertified but OCIA compliant herd (no antibiotics) until this May. The doe has never had antibiotics except for the Today treatment.

Kinda scary.

Just my luck I have to get the staph that's only susceptible to the $$$$ treatment.

Will your certifier permit her offspring to be considered organic after the treatment? Seems you would want to keep any males from her for the milk production genetics....

here, any milk would have to be kept separated, and not sold as organically produced-- There is a lot of transitioning going on in Dairy cattle--and I wonder what the certifier here would say about a goat dairy transitioning---

[AnnaS]

[QUOTE=Terry W]Will your certifier permit her offspring to be considered organic after the treatment? QUOTE]

I'm not certified & not selling milk. I followed OCIA regs until this May to see if it was something I wanted to do once the herd was big enough to sell milk. But none of the goat milk processors will pay premium for organic, so I couldn't justify the added grain cost.