The 2012 National Mastitis Council Regional Meeting will be held August 15-16. in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

This year’s meeting will feature a new format — offering a selection of eight or nine specialized short courses during the two-day conference. Unlike previous years, the meeting will not include an all-day general session program. Instead, the short course will provide attendees the opportunity learn about specific topics in a small group setting.

The short courses are geared to dairy producers, their employees, and their milk quality/mastitis advisers. There will also be a short course for Spanish-speaking milkers.

Details will be posted as they become available in the coming weeks.

The National Mastitis Council is now on Facebook. Check out the link below, and be sure to “like” us!

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Somatic cell count (SCC) in Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI) herds enrolled in SCC testing in the US averaged 217,000 cells/ml in 2011, which was less than the 2010 average of 228,000. This compares to 233,000 in 2009; 262,000 in 2008; 276,000 in 2007; and 288,000 in 2006.

Variation among states remains large, ranging from less than 160,000 to more than 400,000. State average SCC was lower than the national average for mountain and western states, and often higher for southeastern states.

Average test-day somatic cell count from US Dairy Herd Improvement herds during 2011 by state

The current federal SCC regulatory limit in the U.S. is 750,000 cells/ml. In many other major dairy countries, the SCC limit is 400,000 cells/ml.

The overall percentage of herd test days that exceeded 400,000, 500,000, 600,000, and 750,000 cells/ml during 2010 were 15.7%, 8.5%, 4.8% and 2.3%, respectively, which was lower for all levels than during 2010. The 2.3% of 2011 DHI herd test days that were higher than the present legal limit for bulk tank SCC in the US may overestimate the percentage of herds that shipped milk exceeding the legal limit because milk of cows treated for mastitis is excluded from the bulk tank even though included in DHI test data. The percentage of herd test-days that exceeded the legal limit also would have been higher than the percentage of herds that were rejected from the market because market exclusion only occurs after repeated violations.

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Congratulations once again, to Amanda Sterrett, University of Kentucky (USA); Roxann Weix, University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA); Joren Verbeke, Ghent University (Belgium); and Diana Sorg, Technische Universitt Mnchen (Germany), who were recognized during this years NMC 51^st Annual Meeting, held in St. Pete Beach, Florida.

2012 NMC Scholars

The NMC Scholars Program provides travel scholarships for graduate students to attend NMC annual meetings and encourage their involvement in NMC programs and activities. Funding for the program comes from the National Mastitis Research Foundation (NMRF), which is financed through contributions from NMC members and supporters.

Read about the NMC Scholars and their research projects here.

Information about the 2013 NMC Scholars Program, which will include a travel scholarship to the NMC 52nd Annual Meeting ( January 27-29, 2013 in San Diego, California) will be posted on the NMC website by June 1. Applications will be due July 31.