STATUS OF MILK PRODUCTION AND SUBCLINICAL MASTITIS IN DAIRY COWS ALONG WITH SOCIOECONOMIC CONDITION OF THE FARMERS

A cross sectional study was conducted to characterize the present situation of milk production, to identify the existing socioeconomic status of dairy farmers, and to determine the prevalence of subclinical mastitis (SCM) in dairy cows. A total of 229 smallholder dairy farms at Bangladesh Agricultural University surrounding areas were investigated during January to March 2015. Direct interview with farmers, and physical examination of the cows were done to collect farm and cow level data. It appeared that all of the farmers were involved in other occupations besides dairying, in which almost half of them (48.29%) belong to agricultural cultivation. Educational level of the most of the farmers was illiterate to primary level (68.5%). The average annual income of farm owners was Tk. 219109.17, of which around half of the total income comes from livestock. Average milk production of the farms was 7.73 L/day with a range of 0.5 to 305 L. Milk samples were collected from 101 milking cows and were subjected to somatic cell count (SCC) by automatic nucleocounter machine. The overall prevalence of subclinical mastitis was 20.79%. The prevalence of subclinical mastitis was comparatively higher in Sahiwal cows (42.86%), cows that yield >5 to 10 L milk per day, and in late lactation stage (>180 days).