The relationship between somatic cell count score and level of herd milk production is shown in Table 7. High producing herds have lower average SCCS's with a high percentage of cows in the low cell count score categories. If the average SCCS rises by 0.5 or more from one month to the next the causes for the increase should be investigated. A herd goal should be a SCCS of 3.5 or an actual count of less than 200,000. Less than three percent of the cows in the herd should have a score above seven.
Profile helps determine when infections occur during the lactation.
The average SCCS for first lactation cows should be less than 2.0 during the first 40 days in milk. The average SCCS for older cows during the same period should be less than 2.5. All Herds 2.5 3.4 Compare the average SCCS of older cows fresh less than 40 days with the values in Table 8. If scores are high, evaluate dry cow management. Compare the average SCCS of first lactation cows fresh less than 40 days with the values in Table 8.