EVALUATION OF BOVINE TEAT CONDITION IN COMMERCIAL DAIRY HERDS: 1. NON-INFECTIOUS FACTORS

Classification of bovine teat condition can be used to assess the effects of milking management, milking equipment or environment on teat tissue and the risk of new intramammary infections. Veterinarians and others require a simple and reliable method for evaluating teat health in dairy herds. Hillerton et al. (2000) proposed simple methods for quantifying short- or medium-term effects of machine milking on teats. Such changes are easily recognizable immediately after cluster removal. The purposes of this paper, by an informal discussion group of researchers and udder health advisers self-styled as the “Teat Club International”, are: 1) to review non-infectious factors affecting short- or medium-term changes in teats; 2) to propose a simple protocol for systematic evaluation of teats in commercial dairies; 3) to propose guidelines for interpretation of these observations. The full version of this paper with many references, example pictures and sample recording charts is posted on the UW-Madison Milk Quality websit