Larger Herds Tend to Have Lower SCC
From the National Mastitis Council newsletter "Udder Topics", Vol. 21, No. 1 (February 1998)

Milk quality data from the US show a relationship between amount of milk shipped (a reflection of herd size) and bulk tank somatic cell count (BTSCC). During 1995, the weighted average BTSCC for larger herds was less than that for smaller herds. Herds that shipped more than 95,000 pounds of milk per month had weighted average BTSCC below 325,000 during the non-summer months and increased to 400,000 in August. Herds that shipped less than 45,000 pounds per month had a weighted average BTSCC above 375,000, peaking in August at 525,000.

These data are being collected from Federal Milk Marketing Orders through a cooperative study involving the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, the USDA Centers for Epidemiology and Animal Health, and the NMC Milk Quality Monitoring Committee.

Source: National Mastitis Council 1998 Annual Meeting Proceedings, p. 10

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