The USDA, in conjunction with the National Mastitis Council (NMC) Milk Quality Monitoring Committee, monitors milk quality in the U.S. using bulk tank somatic cell count (BTSCC) data provided by four of the nation’s 10 Federal Milk Marketing Orders (FMOs). These FMOs monitored milk from 29,937 producers located in 29 states, and accounted for 46.5 percent of the milk produced in the U.S. during 2011.
The milk-weighted geometric BTSCC mean was 206,000 cells/ml in 2011 compared to 224,000 cells/ml in 2010. The milk-weighted BTSCC takes into account the amount of milk shipped by a producer, resulting in an overall BTSCC mean of monitored milk.
The producer shipment BTSCC – which is a geometric, nonmilk-weighted mean of all shipments – was 259,000 cells/ml in 2011 compared to 272,000 in 2010.
The overall BTSCCs from the four FMOs have decreased every year since 2007. PD
—From National Mastitis Council news release
