Questionnaire-based study to assess the association between management practices and mastitis within tie-stall and free-stall dairy housing systems in Switzerland

Table 4 Final multivariable negative binomial regression model between management practices and high somatic cell counts (incidence rate ratios (IRR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI)) from 263 Swiss dairy farms with a tie-stall and >10 cows in 2010

Factor	Category	IRR (95% CI)	P-value
Type of farming	Organic	0.72 (0.57-0.90)	0.005
Type of farming	Conventional	1.0	-
Prophylactic measures taken when purchasing a dairy cow	Never purchase	0.87 (0.78-0.98)	0.02
	Other†	1.0	-
Type of stall	Open/cold	1.65 (1.19-2.28)	0.002
Type of stall	Closed/warm	1.0	-
Lying surface	No mat	0.82 (0.65-1.03)	0.09
	Comfort mat	0.74 (0.62-0.89)	0.002
	Rubber mat	1.0	-
Water trough cleaning routine	At longer intervals	1.17 (1.03-1.33)	0.01
Water trough cleaning routine	Daily	1.0	-
Feed analysis carried out	Never	1.18 (1.06-1.32)	0.003
Feed analysis carried out	Regularly/occasionally	1.0	-

^†California Mastitis Test, milk samples taken for bacteriological culturing, somatic cell count data from breeding associations is checked, claw condition is checked.

ISSN: 1746-6148