Jersey cow with cellmetic count in milk

jim/se kansas · #1 02/23/12, 08:08 PM

5 year old milk cow from dairy with high cellmetic count. I hope I spelled it right.
What is it and dose it hurt to drink the milk? Thanks Jim

sammyd · #2 02/23/12, 09:23 PM

it is somatic cell count
It is the count of sloughed off cells in the milk. Dead white blood cells and other cells that are normally in the milk.
Elevated counts usually point to an infection of some sort or an injury to the udder.
How high is the count?

Callieslamb · #3 02/23/12, 09:24 PM

Somatic cell count is the amount of bacteria in the milk. High usually means mastitis to me. Yes, you can drink it.....but do you want to? Some cows have a cronicly high count. I'd avoid them if possible as you might not get rid of it and it might get worse. How high are we talking?

haypoint · #4 02/24/12, 06:27 AM

You might know white blood cells by another name, pus. In an attempt to fight/capture bacteria, white blood cells encapsulate the bacteria.

You can clear this up with medication. If you won't use medication, milk the cow completely out every 3 hours for several days. Often this will clear a minor bout of Mastitis.

BlackWillowFarm · #5 02/24/12, 06:30 AM

Somatic cell count.

It's a measure of the white blood cells being secreted in the milk. White blood cells are the "infection fighters" in the bloodstream. An elevated white blood cell count is an indication of infection or injury.

Sometimes you can fix it with antibiotics and sometimes you can't. You need to know what is causing the high counts before you know if it's curable or not.

topside1 · #6 02/24/12, 07:13 AM

Jim everybody is right on the mark, also look up invisible mastitis. All cows have a somatic cell count. Plus need more info to help in detail....Topside

Vickie44 · #7 02/24/12, 07:29 AM

I have heard that standards regarding somatic cell count in milk are being tightened. Is possible this animal has a chronic issue and they want to get rid of her

jim/se kansas · #8 02/24/12, 07:29 AM

Thanks for the information. I think I will pass on this cow.

topside1 · #9 02/24/12, 08:08 AM

Good choice, high risk, at least the owner was honest...

myersfarm · #10 02/24/12, 08:13 AM

Learn everyday
I just KNEW with a high somatic cell count the milk would SPOIL faster than milk from a low somatic cell count..I DID NOT KNOW WHY

springvalley · #11 02/24/12, 08:16 AM

We had friend that had a family cow and I ran a cell count test threw my milk company. The test cam back over 1 million, I think companies say counts of 300,000 or 250,000 are acceptable, but the lower they are the better. We worked on getting her count down, but couldn`t get it below 600,000 so they ended up getting rid of her. Sometimes cows have high cell counts and show no signs of mastitis. I had an old timer tell me once that putting nurse calves on a cow for a season will help clear them up. I generally get rid of cows that have a cronic problem with this. > Thanks Marc