Potential of fine milk composition for cow udder health management

The objective of this research was to investigate the potential of mid-infrared (MIR) analysis of milk to provide indicators of the udder health status of dairy cows. Mastitis data collected in 49 Walloon herds were merged with test-day data including milk composition and MIR spectra. A total of 1987 healthy lactation and 3204 lactations with at least one mastitis, clinical or sub-clinical, chronic or new infection, were identified. First, using paired t tests, significant differences between milk composition of the test-day from 10 to 45 days before the mastitis and milk composition of the test-day occurring during the mastitis (from 10 days before to 10 days after the event) were observed for fat, protein, casein, lactoferrin, saturated FA, short chain FA, medium chain FA, Na, Mg and K. Moreover, milk composition of testdays from healthy lactations was compared with milk composition of test-days occurring from 45 to 15 days before a mastitis using t tests. Lactoferrin, Na, titrable acidity, and urea were identified as potential early indicators of mastitis. The results emphasized the potential of MIR analysis of milk to provide udder health indicators.