| Few studies have been developed to evaluate the differences of bovine mastitis situation between hand and machine milking under the American tropic conditions. Twenty dairy herds were studied, 11 using hand milking (HM) and 9 machine milking (MM), from «San José de las Lajas» municipality, Mayabeque province. Between May 2009 and March 2012, samples from 182 cows (113 MM and 69 HM) were obtained meaning a 35.1% of total milking cows, resulting in 708 quarters sampled (435 MM and 273 HM). Samples were subjected to bacteriological diagnosis and somatic cell count (SCC). There were significant differences for the prevalence of blind quarters, subclinical mastitis and intramammary infections between hand milking, 1.1; 29.4 and 59.4% and machine milking, 3.8;... |
