52a Reunião Anual da Sociedade Brasileira de
Zootecnia
Zootecnia: Otimizando Recursos e Potencialidades
Belo Horizonte – MG, 19 a 23 de Julho de 2015
Influence of the production scale upon the economic impact of mastitis in dairy cattle herds
Fabiana Alves Demeu1, Marcos Aurélio Lopes2, Christiane Maria Barcellos Magalhães da Rocha3, Geraldo Márcio da
Costa3, Glauber dos Santos3
Doctorate student in the graduate program in Veterinary Sciences at UFLA. Professor at IFRO – pro-doctoral grantee – Capes.
Professor at Universidade Federal de Lavras – UFLA. Productivity Grantee of CNPq.
3
Universidade Federal de Lavras, Department of Veterinary Medicine.
¹
²
Resumo: Objetivou-se analisar e quantificar a influência da escala de produção no impacto econômico da mastite em
rebanhos bovinos leiteiros. A pesquisa foi realizada por meio de simulação no sistema computacional CU$TO MASTITE,
considerando rebanhos leiteiros com 50; 100 e 150 vacas holandesas em lactação. Os fatores utilizados, e os seus
respectivos valores, foram: percentual de casos clínicos (7%); percentual de vacas secas (33%); produção diária por animal
(20 kg); frequência de ordenhas por dia (2); intervalo de partos (15 meses); contagem de células somáticas (500.000 células
somáticas/mL); quartos acometidos clinicamente (1); quantidade de doses de vacina para vaca seca (3); e percentual de
descarte de animais devido à mastite (4%). Os maiores responsáveis pelo impacto econômico foram, em ordem decrescente,
as perdas com descarte de leite, o custo do tratamento curativo de animais acometidos clinicamente e a redução da produção
de leite. O elevado impacto evidencia a necessidade de monitoramento das mastites clínica e subclínica e de adoção de
medidas preventivas, para se diminuírem os prejuízos ocasionados pela doença.
Palavras–chave: bovinocultura leiteira, economia, sanidade animal.
Abstract: It was intended to survey and quantify the influence of production scale upon economic impact of mastitis in
dairy cattle herds. The work was conducted by means of simulation in the data-processing system CU$TO MASTITE,
considering dairy herds with 50; 100 and 150 lactating Holstein cows. The factors utilized and their respective values were:
percent of clinical cases (7%); percent of dry cows (33%); daily yield per animal (20 kg); milking frequencies a day (2);
calving interval (15 months); somatic cell count (500,000 somatic cells/mL); clinically affected quarters (1); amount of
doses of vaccine for dry cow (3); and percent of culling of animals due to mastitis (4%). The greatest responsible for the
economic impact were, in decreasing order, the losses with culling of milk, the cost of the healing treatment of clinically
affected animals and the reduction of milk yield. The high impact stands out the need fro monitoring of clinical and
subclinical mastitis and of adoption of preventive measurements to decrease the losses brought about by the disease.
Key words: dairy cattle production, economics, animal health
Introduction
Due to the great importance of mastitis, a number of researchers have studied different aspects (incidence of clinic
cases, somatic cell count, yield reduction, culling of cows due to mastitis, prevalence, incidence and frequency of clinic
cases, influence of somatic cells upon milk quality). Nevertheless, the research works concerning the economic impact are
scarce and in the few found in the literature which approach the subject (Bar et al., 2008), thee is no detailing in relation to
the technical and managerial indicators adopted.
Scale economics occurs when the unit costs fall with increasing level of activity of the enterprise. According to
Lopes et al. (2006), in relation to the optimization of the physical structure of the enterprise, increasing the production scale
up to certain levels, the fixed cost per unit is reduced. Bannock et al. (2003) stated that the effect of scale economics is
realized as production is increased, keeping constant the fixed costs. Considering the aspects presented as well as the
importance of the theme, this study was undertaken with the objective of surveying and quantifying the influence of the
production scale upon the economic impact of mastitis in dairy cattle herds.
Material e Methods
The work was carried out by means of simulation by utilizing the data-processing system CU$TO MASTITE (Lopes
et al., 2007), considering dairy herds with 50; 100 and 150 lactating Holstein cows. The factors utilized and their respective
values were: percent of clinic cases (7%); percent of dry cows (33%); daily yield per animal (20 kg); milking frequency per
day (2); calving interval (15 months); somatic cell counts (500,000 somatic cells/mL); clinically affected quarters (1);
amount of doses of vaccine for dry cow (3); and percent of culling of animals due to mastitis (4%). The expenses com
monitoring (culture and antibiogram, CCST and CCSI were considered as prevention), pre and post-dipping, vaccination of
dry cows against mastitis, treatment of dry cows and maintenance of milking machine. As healing measurements, the
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52a Reunião Anual da Sociedade Brasileira de
Zootecnia
Zootecnia: Otimizando Recursos e Potencialidades
Belo Horizonte – MG, 19 a 23 de Julho de 2015
treatments with clinical case were considered. The impact of mastitis was estimated as being total in losses added of the
expenses on prevention and treatment of clinic cases.
The losses by reduction of milk yield owing to mastitis were estimated according the equation proposed by the NMC
(1996): y = - 4.7908 + 0.0226x, in which “y” is the percentage of milk loss and “x” the bulk-tank somatic cell count (CCST
x 1,000 cells/ml).
Results and Discussion
The evaluation of the annual economic impact of mastitis per kg of milk, lactating cow and herd (lactating cows +
dry cows), in R$ and percent can be observed in TABLE 1. The values in R$ present a false sensation of disadvantage of
the greatest production scale, since the economic impacts generated by mastitis are greater. That was expected, for as
increase of the amount of lactating cows occurs, variable costs increase (Lopes et al., 2006) as well as the expenses
concerning the healing treatment and prevention.
Table 1. Evaluation of the economic impact of mastitis per kg of milk, lactating cow and herd (lactating cows + dry
cows) in R$ as regards the amount of lactating Holstein cows with a daily yield of 20 kg and somatic cell count
of 500,000 cells/mL
Amount of lactating cows
Specification
50
R$
0.033
0.0583
0.0913
0.191
0.2823
28.68
110.43
191.32
143.85
100
%
11.69
30.52
42.21
57.79
100
20.62
79.38
36.12
R$
0.0248
0.0583
0.0831
0.1935
0.2766
28.68
110.43
143.63
107.99
COE of the prevention/kg of milk produced
COE of the healing treatment/kg of milk produced
COE of the preventive +healing treatment/kg of milk produced
Yield losses/kg of milk produced
Economic impact/kg of milk
COE of the healing treatment of subacute case/affected cow
COE of the healing treatment of acute case/affected cow
COE of the prevention/lactating cow/year
COE of the prevention/herd (lactating cows + dry cows)/year
COE of the healing treatment (subacute + acute case)/lactating
338.39
63.88
338.39
cow/year
COE of the preventive + healing treatment (subacute + acute
529.71
32.33
482.02
case)/lactating cow/year
Milk losses (reduction in yield + descarte)/lactating cow/year
1.108.50
67.66
1.122.80
Economic impact /lactating cow/year
1.638.22
1.604.82
¹Total economic impact (losses + expenses)/year
81.910.89
160.481.82
COE = effective operational cost. ¹Total economic impact: expenses on prevention, healing treatment,
production of mastitis-acometidos animals and milk descarte of the animals under treatment.
150
%
8.97
30.13
39.10
60.90
100.00
20.62
79.38
29.80
R$
0.0218
0.0583
0.0802
0.1935
0.2737
28.68
110.43
126.71
95.27
%
7.96
30.13
38.09
61.91
100.00
20.62
79.38
27.24
70.20
338.39
72.76
30.04
465.1
29.29
1.123.02
70.71
1.588.12
238.218.38
losses due to the reduction in the
69.96
The prevention is an item to which should be given great attention on the part of the technicians and stockmen. It
was not inferior only to the losses on death and devaluation of dams in all the scales studied (Table 2). Such values stand
out the importance of investing and adopting preventive measurements, which include not only the preventive treatments, as
well as management measurements, mainly in milking as well as good conditions of cleaning in the facilities, aiming to
decrease new infections. Unfortunately, the adoption of practices with cares in the hygienic production of milk according to
Lopes et al. (2004) has been negligenciada by a significant part of dairy farmers. If the prevention measurements are
adopted, they tend to increase the percent with that item and decrease the expenses on treatments, which, consequently, will
result into smaller economic losses.
The prevention costs per lactating cow/year, were inferior to the cost with healing treatment in all the cases
studied. Those values were obtained from the division of the total value estimated per year for the preventive and/or healing
treatment, by the amount of lactating cows in the herd. It can be verified that the percent of the item prevention presented
decrease as the production scale was increased (Table 2). The percents of the healing treatment and of the preventive
treatment per kg of milk demonstrate that the greatest investments on prevention result into smaller economic impacts.
The item which caused the greatest economic impact was that of the expenses on discard of milk of animals under
treatment of clinical mastitis (Table 2). The variation of the value was due to the increase of the amount of discarded milk
and not in virtue of the greater amount of lactating animals and not of the annual average frequency of clinical mastitis,
which was considered the same value in all the scales studied.
The losses can be classified as visible and those non-perceptible to the dairyman. Among the visible ones, the
discard of the milk of the animals under treatment conforms. The reduction of milk yield is a cause of non-perceptible
impact, since the decrease of yield brought about by subclinical mastitis, lots of times goes unnoticed by the stockman;
which reflect into poorer yield and, most times, the farmer does even have idea of its occurrence.
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52a Reunião Anual da Sociedade Brasileira de
Zootecnia
Zootecnia: Otimizando Recursos e Potencialidades
Belo Horizonte – MG, 19 a 23 de Julho de 2015
Table 2.
Items which compose the yearly economic impact of mastitis in a dairy herd in R$ and percentage,
according to the production scale in herds of lactating Holstein cows with daily yield of 20kg
Specification
50
R$
%
Amount of lactating cows
100
R$
%
150
R$
%
Expenses
Preventive treatment
9.566,12
11,7
14.362,55
8,9
19.005,76
8,0
Healing treatment*
16.919,63
20,7
33.839,25
21,1
50.758,88
21,3
Total expenses (sub total)
26.485,75
32,4
48.201,80
30
69.764,64
29,3
Losses
Death of dams
1.500,00
1,8
3.000,00
1,9
4.500,00
1,9
Devaluation of dams
4.518,48
5,5
8.969,52
5,6
13.488,00
5,7
Discard of milk of animals under
33.726,00
41,2
68.474,00
42,7
102.711,00
43,1
treatment
Reduction in milk yield
15.680,66
19,1
31.836,50
19,8
47.754,75
20,0
¹Total losses (sub-total)
55.425,14
67,6
112.280,02
70
168.453,75
70,7
²Economic impact
81.910,89
100,0
160.481,82
100,0
238.218,38
100,0
* It involves costs with application of local and systemic medicines. ¹Total losses = deaths of dams + devaluation of dams + discard of
animals under treatment + reduction in milk yield. ²Total economic impact: expenses on prevention, healing treatment, losses due to the
reduction in the yield of the mastitis-affected animals and discard of milk of the animals under treatment.
Conclusions
The increase of the production scale resulted into decreased economic impact of mastitis per lactating cow. The
greatest economic impact in the smallest scales stands out the need for optimization of the use of the materials and
maintenance of milking machine utilized in prevention. The greatest responsible ones for the economic impact were, in
decreasing order, the losses on discarded milk, the cost of the healing treatment of clinically affected animals and the
reduction in milk yield. The high impact stands out the need for monitoring clinical and subclinical mastitis and adoption of
preventive measurements to decrease the losses caused by the disease.
References
Bar D.; Tauer, L.W.; Bennett, G.; Gonzalez, R.N.; Hertl, J.A.; Schukken, Y.H.; Schulte, H.F.; Welcome, F.L. and Gröhn,
Y.T. 2008. The cost of generic clinical mastitis in dairy cows as estimated by using dynamic programming. Journal of
Dairy Science v. 91: p.2205-2214.
Bannock, G.R.E. and Baxter, D. E. 2003. The Penguin Dictionary of Economics. 7º ed. London, Penguin Books Ltd. p.416
p.
Lopes, M.A.; Lima, A.L.R; Carvalho, F. de M; Reis, R.P.; Santos, I.C. and Saraiva, F.H. 2004. Efeito do tipo de sistema de
criação nos resultados econômicos de sistemas de produção de leite na região de Lavras (MG). Ciência e Agrotecnologia
v. 28: p. 1177-1189.
Lopes, M. A.; Lima, A. L. R; Carvalho, F. M.; Reis, R. P.; Santos, I.C. and Saraiva, F. H. 2006. Efeito da escala de
produção nos resultados econômicos de sistemas de produção de leite na região de Lavras (MG): um estudo multicasos.
Boletim da Indústria Animal v. 63: p.177-188.
Lopes, M.A.; Santos, G.; Costa, G.M. and Lopes, N. M. 2007. Desenvolvimento de um sistema computacional para avaliar
o impacto econômico da mastite em rebanhos leiteiros. In: Congresso Brasileiro de Agroinformática, São Pedro. Anais,
SBIAgro p.1-5
Lopes, M.A.; Dias, A.S.; Carvalho, F.M.; Lima, A.L.R.; Cardoso, M.G. and Carmo, E.A. 2008. Efeito da escala de
produção nos resultados econômicos de sistemas de produção de leite na região de Lavras (MG, Brasil), em 2004 e
2005. Archivos Latinoamericanos de Produção Animal v. 16, n. 3, p. 121-129.
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