Estimation of Direct and Indirect Cost of Clinical Mastitis in Modern Dairy Herds of Isfahan province from 2018 to 2021

Abstract

Introduction: Mastitis is considered as the most important and costlies disease in dairy cow herds. It has a high prevalence in dairy cattle farms, but the economic cost of it is not obvious at the point of view of dairy herd farmers, who see only the cost of medicine and treatment and direct costs, while most of the disease cost caused indirectly. By predicting the level of cost and ranking the factors which affecting disease cost, the awareness and decision-making of livestock farmers and veterinarians are improved. Materials & Methods: In this study, data were collected in the form of a census from three large and modern cattle farms in Isfahan province for three years from 2018 to 2021. Cows were divided into two groups: healthy cows and mastitis cows, then they were divided into subgroups based on lactation period and severity of mastitis. In this study, factors such as the damage caused by the decrease in milk production, the cost of replacement heifers, the cost of discarded milk, the cost of medicine and the cost of mastitis prevention and control policies were considered as factors affecting the economic cost of the disease. Results: Based on the results obtained from this study, the indirect economic damage is more than the direct economic damage caused by clinical mastitis. Also, the economic damage caused by non-fatal clinical mastitis was calculated as 6500000 Iranian Rials and fatal clinical mastitis as 152000000 Iranian Rials. The damage caused by the drop in milk production and the cost of a replacement heifer was considered as the biggest part of the economic loss caused by this disease. Conclusion: Considering the high damage of this disease at the herd level and its high prevalence, especially in modern cattle farms with a high number of cows, the importance of prevention and control of this disease becomes more obvious. Monitoring strategy of herds nationally can prevent the high damage of mastitis.