An observational study to investigate the association of teat skin condition with clinical mastitis risk

The importance of teat canal integrity and its adjacent tissues in the dynamics of IMI is well documented, whereas research on the relationship between teat skin condition and clinical mastitis occurrence is scarce. The objective of this prospective cohort study was to investigate the association of teat skin condition with clinical mastitis occurrence in a closed cohort from a commercial dairy farm with a thrice daily milking schedule in the Northeast United States. We tested the hypothesis that quarters with teats with altered skin condition would have higher odds of clinical mastitis than those with normal skin. Teat skin condition from 2,670 cows was assessed during a single visit and categorized into (1) normal, (2) dry skin, (3) skin lesion, and (4) dry skin and skin lesion. Cows were monitored for 2 wk after the teat skin condition assessment, and the occurrence of clinical mastitis at the quarter level was documented. A generalized linear mixed model with a logit link and a binomial distribution revealed an association between teat skin condition and the occurrence of clinical mastitis. Compared with quarters with teats with normal teat skin, the odds (95% CI) of clinical mastitis were 0.98 (0.60-1.60) for teats with dry skin, 1.88 (0.97-3.66) for teats with a skin lesion, and 4.87 (1.71-13.85) for teats with dry skin and a skin lesion. We conclude that quarters from teats with dry skin and skin lesions had higher odds of clinical mastitis. In addition, we found evidence that quarters with teats with skin lesions have higher odds of clinical mastitis than those with normal teat skin, though future studies are needed. The results from this study show that teat skin condition should be considered in mastitis control programs on dairy operations.