Behavior of bovine mastitis in dairy herds of Villa Clara province, Cuba

Abstract

Mastitis is the most economically and productively important disease in the bovine milk production chain. The present work aimed to evaluate the clinical-epidemiological behavior of bovine mastitis in dairy herds of private producers in Villa Clara province. Fifty-five producers, from four municipalities, from ten Credit and Service Cooperatives (CCSs), were included. California Mastitis Test (CMT), somatic cell count (SCC) and bacteriological isolation from milk from individual rooms were performed. Of the 1246 quarters analyzed containing 311 animals, 32.9 % were affected by subclinical mastitis, 0.32 % by clinical mastitis and 1.3 % were atrophied. The main bacteriological isolates of subclinical mastitis corresponded to Staphylococcus aureus, Coagulase-negative Staphylococci and Enterobacteria, with a quarter prevalence of 15.8, 9.3 and 3.7 % respectively, for intramamary infections of 35.5 %. In relation to average values of the SCC obtained in individual cows in the herds (27*103cell/mL), 6.5 % of cows with higher critical values (200*103cell/mL) were obtained. The distribution of the microorganisms by gender showed a higher incidence of Staphylococcus and Enterobacteria (26.9 and 3.7 %, respectively). The index of subclinical mastitis in the municipalities was close to what was considered correct, which was 0.5, managed as an epidemiological indicator of this disease.