RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN UDDER HEALTH AND MILK QUALITY IN KHOLMOGORSKAYA BREED COWS

Abstract

The paper presents the results of studying the relationships between the values ??of the selection control indicators of milk quality, reflecting the intensity and balance of metabolic processes, udder health with milk productivity of Kholmogory cows in the Arkhangelsk region. In animals, under the same feeding and housing conditions, in monthly milk samples (n = 3861) taken during 2024, the content of the mass fraction of fat, protein, lactose, dry matter, dry non-fat milk residue, freezing point values ??and the number of somatic cells were analyzed. Considering that a significant increase in the functional activity of the mammary glands during lactation of cows increases the risk of developing inflammatory processes in them that disrupt milk secretion, we have established threshold values ????for the number of somatic cells accompanying reliable changes in the content of quality indicators in milk. Even with the somatic cell count in the range of 100-300 thousand/ml (167.85±2.27 thousand/ml), a decrease in the lactose level (p?0.001) and dry skimmed milk residue (p?0.05) was noted with an increase in the mass fraction of protein (p?0.001) and the mass fraction of fat (p?0.05) and a decrease in daily milk yield by 2.56 kg (p?0.001) – 9.54%. The identified reliable changes in the quality indicators and their ratios in the milk of Kholmogory cows at threshold values of the number of somatic cells can act as additional markers in the diagnosis of the latent subclinical form of mastitis, which is important for the timely diagnosis and restoration of the health of dairy cows.