Risks analysis of dairy practices impact on herd udder health in walloon dairy farms

As most of production pathologies in dairy farming, mastitis is characterized by a multifactorial aetiology. Its diagnosis and treatment requires a good knowledge of its determinant and predisposing factors. The comparative epidemiology of 349 walloon farms registered to individual milk analysis programs led to highlight the practices used in farms whose last 3 months' herd somatic cell count was above 400.000 cells/ml. We identified the following risk indicators relative to 1) herd demography : age, composition, herd production average, percentage of high cell counts animals 2) the animal housing : use of straw as bedding stall for all classes of animals and lack of a calving pen 3) the milking machine : milking cups cleaning 4) the dairy practices : lack of washing cloth towels between 2 milkings, occasional foremilk check, stripping, lack of post-dip and 5) animal nutrition : mould on beet pulp silos and composition of the main concentrate. This descriptive and univariate analysis confirmed the risky situation of a large majority of dairy farms regarding the recommendations of good dairy practices guides.