Somatic cell count in dairy goats II: udder health monitoring at goat and herd level.

Background: Mastitis is a costly disease affecting dairy ruminants worldwide. Somatic cell count is the most widely used tool for udder health monitoring but is highly influenced by non-infectious factors in goats. The aim of this paper was to define adjusted action thresholds of somatic cell count for the detection of goats with intramammary infections.