Identification et hiérarchisation des facteurs de risque de pénalité économique pour des concentration cellulaires élevées dans 349 fermes laitières en Wallonie

peer reviewedIn Belgium, the main economic penalty accounted for bovine milk quality is the bulk milk somatic cell count geometric mean over 3 months reaching more than 400,000 cells/ml. Yet, it is still difficult to make progress on udder health and milk quality because regional risks related to endemic farming practices are not broadly known. Hence, a first step in understanding specific udder health risks associated with herd management has to be a broad ecopathological survey. A random stratified sample of 349 dairy farms, representing 25% of producers registered for performance recording, was selected with a total of 16,000 cows. Thorough audits recording 400 farming practices were made in each farm by 2 different surveyors during milking. The practices were recorded across four categories: Herd structure, Housing, Milking practices and Herd Management (including Nutrition). Our chosen variable was the geometric mean of the herd composite somatic cell count from the last three months compared to the 400,000 cells/ml European threshold. The sample had a mean somatic cell count of 287,000 cells/ml following a normal distribution between 73,000 and 807,000 cells/ml. From 19 risk indicators identified through univariate logistic analysis (p<0.15), half were related to milking practices and 5 were underlined by significant odds-ratios (OR) found through multivariate logistic analysis (p