Effect of clinical mastitis treatment in cows

Somatic cell count (SCC) is considered to be one of the main parameters to evaluate milk quality. Mastitis is defined as an inflammation of the udder and continues to be the most common cause of increased SCC. In order to identify causes of clinical mastitis the experiment at the Practical Training and Experimental Center of LVA was carried out. Twenty dairy cows were selected and divided by stratified random sampling to two equal groups 10 cows in each - control with 200-399x10(3)/cm(3) and experimental with 400-999x10(3)/cm(3). Milk samples were collected on the day 0 and after the experiment for determination of SCC (control group), SCC and bacterial infection (experimental group). After sensitivity test the experimental cows received intramammary infusion of antibiotics. According SCC 5, 14 and 21 days after treatment efficacy of therapy was evaluated. Examination of milk samples after antibiotic treatment revealed decresion of SCC by 19.58 % on day 5 (p<0.05), by 34.13 % on day 14 (p<0.001) and by 55.29 % on day 21 (p<0.001), respectively. The results showed that antibiotic treatment provided statistically significant efficiency in controlling clinical mastitis of dairy cows.