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D-somatic-cell-count Dictionary

Somatic Cell Count

The number of body cells in a millilitre of milk, used to measure udder health and to price milk

All termsIntroduced in M21Open the Toolkit
An open dictionary on a farm office desk
Plain meaning
The number of body cells in a millilitre of milk, used to measure udder health and to price milk
How to use it
Keep it low: processors pay a bonus for low counts and penalise or reject high ones.
South African benchmark
South African regulations set the upper limit for raw milk at 500,000 cells per millilitre.
Country notes
Processors in the local markets test milk at collection and price it on hygiene as well as volume.
Go and read
M21 Unit 9
Calculate it
Enter the expected price after hygiene bonuses in T-M21-01.
Library sources
LIB-A071
See also
Mastitis, Butterfat
Dairy: the product, the five stages of the business, the unit it is sold by and where it is producedDairy: how the business runsSold bylitres, paid on butterfat and protein1Rear heifers2Calve3Milk twice a day4Cool and collect5Processor or own productsZAZWZMBWNAProduces commerciallyImports most needsZA South Africa, ZW Zimbabwe, ZM Zambia, BW Botswana, NA Namibia
From the Dairy Major, where this term is introduced.

Introduced in M21 Dairy.