During 2007, the average SCC in U.S. herds enrolled in Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI) somatic cell testing was 276,000. This compares to 288,000 in 2006 and 296,000 in 2005.

A majority of states (27) had lower average SCC than last year; 21 states had higher. Variation among states was large. State average SCC’s were often lower than the national average in the Northeast, upper Midwest, and the far West and higher in the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Central states, a finding consistent with previous reports.

The current SCC limit in the U.S. is 750,000. The SCC limit in many other major dairy countries is 400,000. The percentages of herd test days that exceeded 400,000, 500,000, 600,000, and 750,000 during 2007 were 24%, 13.4%, 7.6% and 3.5%, respectively. This percentage may overestimate the percentage of herds that shipped milk exceeding the legal limit for bulk tank SCC on test day because the milk of cows treated for mastitis is excluded from the bulk tank even though included in DHI test data.

As herd size increased, average daily milk generally increased, and average SCC declined until herd size exceeded 3,000 cows. For herds with less than 50 cows, the percentage of test days with SCC over 750,000 was 5.9%. It occurred on only 2.0% and 1.3% of the test days for herds with 50 to 99 and 100 to 149 cows, respectively, and averaged 0.7% of the test days for the remaining large herds.

[Read the details here.]

National Dairy Quality Award (NDQA) winners were announced during the awards luncheon at the NMC 47th Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Top honors went to Platinum recipients Emily, Glenn and Jon Beller, Carthage, New York; Dick Brokish, Hollandale, Wisconsin; Lowell and Karen Davenport, Ancramdale, New York; Randy and Cindy Dragt, Howard City, Michigan; Pete and John Kappelman, Manitowoc, Wisconsin; and Dean and Patti Tohl, Tillamook, Oregon.

You can read about the Platinum winners, along with the Gold and Silver winners (and their nominators) here. Results of the awards program were also published in the January 10, 2008 issue of Hoard’s Dairyman magazine.

Herman Barkema, University of Calgary, and Liliana Sotomayor, a dairy consultant from Ecuador, joined the NMC board of directors following the 47th NMC Annual Meeting, held January 20-23, in New Orleans, Louisiana. They replace retiring board members Joe Hogan, The Ohio State University, and Ken Leslie, University of Guelph.

NMC board members elected Larry Fox, Washington State University, to serve as president; Norm Schuring, WestfaliaSurge Inc., as first vice president; Pamela Ruegg, University of Wisconsin-Madison, as second vice president; Eric Hillerton, DairyNZ, as secretary; and David Reid, BouMatic, as treasurer. [Read more here.]

List of Board Members

The National Mastitis Research Foundation (NMRF) recognized four graduate students as NMC Scholars during the NMC 47th Annual Meeting in New Orleans. This year’s NMC Scholars included Kasey Moyes, University of Illinois, USA; Jolanda Jansen, Wageningen University, The Netherlands; Laura Solano, Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica; and Jose Pantoja, University of Wisconsin, USA. NMRF board members selected scholars based on academic performance, research project and an essay describing their career goals. Each recipient received a travel scholarship to attend the NMC Annual Meeting and enrich their graduate education.

“The 2008 NMC Scholars are excellent representatives of the many quality graduate and veterinary students around the world focusing their studies on mastitis and milk quality. Jolanda, Kasey, Laura and Jose each brought a fresh view and energy to the annual meeting, which reassures the future of mastitis research and continued success of the NMC,” said former NMC President Joe Hogan, The Ohio State University. Hogan currently serves as the NMRF president.

Information about the 2009 NMC Scholars Program, which will include a travel scholarship to attend next year’s NMC 48th Annual Meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, will be posted on the NMC website by June 1. Applications will be due July 31.