Mastitis Costs Dairy Farms More Than Lost Milk
A 2023 review in the Brazilian Journal of Veterinary Research and Animal Science, involving researchers from the University of São Paulo and other institutions, separates the financial effects of mastitis into two categories. The first covers direct outlays linked to the disease, including medicines and milk that must be discarded. The second concerns income that the farm does not receive because the animal’s attainable production is not reached or because quality-related payments are lost.
The review states that the scale of the loss differs according to the microorganism responsible, the stage of lactation and the number of previous calvings. These variables mean that a single average estimate cannot be applied uniformly to every cow or property. The authors also point to identifying the organisms involved and taking herd characteristics into account when control measures are defined.
Monitoring provides information for farm management, but the review does not present it as a substitute for technical assessment of individual cases. A financial calculation based only on treatment bills therefore excludes part of the economic effect. The relevant records include production levels, milk quality, the price received, the buyer’s payment rules, the duration of the problem and associated operating expenses.
Milk composition adds another measure
In Rio Grande do Norte, a dairy competition held during the Festa do Boi included quality and composition testing alongside the volume produced. The event involved 33 animals from the Sindi, Guzerá and Sindolando breeds. Samples were sent to the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte’s Milk Quality Laboratory.
The indicators examined included fat, protein, casein, total solids and somatic-cell count. Milk composition is relevant to industrial processing and the production of dairy products, so litres delivered alone do not describe every aspect of the raw material’s value or of the chain’s productive performance.
For an individual farm, combining production and quality records with the activity’s expenses can show where its margin is under pressure. The information cited does not provide an updated estimate of the total mastitis-related loss across farms in Rio Grande do Norte.
