Estimating the impact of mastitis on the profitability of Irish dairy farms

The objective of this paper was to estimate the impact of mastitis on the profitability of Irish dairy farms. Data was collected from four sources, the data included milk production losses, cases treated and on farm practices around mastitis management. The Moorepark Dairy Systems Model which simulates dairying systems inside the farm gate was used to carry out the analysis. The cost components of mastitis which effect farm profitability and which were included in the model were milk losses, culling, diagnostic testing, treatment, veterinary practices and discarded milk. Farms were grouped by five somatic cell count (SCC) thresholds of <= 100,000; 100,001-200,000; 200,001-300,000; 300,001-400,000; and >400,000 cells/ml. The <= 100,000 cells/ml threshold was taken as the baseline and the other four thresholds were compared relative to this baseline. The analysis found for a 40 hectare farm that as SCC increased milk sales decreased, the number of cows culled due to mastitis increased, total farm receipts increased, total farm costs increased and net farm profit decreased.