eOrganic author:
Linda Tikofsky, Cornell University
| AUTHOR | COUNTRY | YEAR | # HERDS | # COWS | BULK MILK SCC (cells/ml) | CLINICAL MASTITIS | CONCLUSIONS | ||||
| ORG* | CONV* | ORG* | CONV* | ORG* | CONV* | ORG* | CONV* | ||||
| Weller and Cooper | UK | 1995 | 11 |
Year 1: 270,700 Year 2: 299,000 |
Year 1: .40/CY Year 2: .46/CY | ||||||
| Busato, et al. | Switzerland | 1997 | 152 | 1907 | 86,000 | High prevalence of subclinical mastitis in Alpine dairies; number of mastitis treatments was that of conventional | |||||
| Hamilton, et al. | Sweden | 1998 | 26 | .09/CY | .15/CY | No evidence to support that cows in organic herds are more prone to disease | |||||
| Weller and Bowling | UK | 1998 | 10 | National data | 250,000 | 167,000 | .35/CY | .37/CY | Clinical mastitis treatment frequency did not differ between organic and conventional herds. | ||
| Hovi and Roderick | UK | 1999 | 16 | 7 | 135,000 | 84,000 | .36/CY (overall) .37/CY(lactation) .28/CY (dry) | .49/CY (overall) .54/CY(lactation) .09/CY (dry) | |||
| Toledo, et al. | Sweden | 2000 | 31 |
Small: 175,000 Large: 198,000 |
Small: 205,000 Large: 186,000 | ||||||
| Hardeng and Edge | Norway | 2001 | 31 | 93 | 264,000 | 246,000 | lower | higher | Fewer mastitis treatments than conventional | ||
| Bennedsgaard, et al. | Denmark | 2001 | 29 Old organic (OO) 35 Moderately new organic (MO) 18 newly organic (NO) |
99 |
270,000 (OO) 320,000 (MO) 330,000 (NO) |
310,000 | .33/ CY(OO) .50/CY(MO) .46/CY (NO) | .58/CY | The longer a herd is in organic production, the better its cell counts. | ||
| Nauta, et al. | Netherlands | 2002 | 325 newly organic (NO) 42 old organic (OO) |
966 |
19,107 (NO) 2639 (OO) |
115,058 |
(cow samples) 70794 (NO) 2639 (OO) |
(cow samples) 63,000 | The longer a herd is organic, the higher the somatic cell count score | ||
| Hoerning, et al. | Germany | 2003 | 74 | - | 222,797 | More subclinical mastitis as indicated by higher SCC | |||||
| Ellis, et al. | UK | 2003 | 7 | 7 | 205,615 | 191,400 | Cow cleanliness was related to bulk milk SCC | ||||
| Roesch, et al. | Switzerland | 2007 |
Visit 1: 52,700 Visit 2: 55,300 |
Visit 1: 38,000 Visit 2: 47,700 |
Subclinical mastitis is a greater problem on organic farms but the difference is not marked. | ||||||
* ORG = Organic, CONV = Conventional
Return to "Milk Quality on Organic Dairy Farms"
This is an eOrganic article and was reviewed for compliance with National Organic Program regulations by members of the eOrganic community. Always check with your organic certification agency before adopting new practices or using new materials. For more information, refer to eOrganic's articles on organic certification.
eOrganic 5332
