Fig. 2

Cell numbers in milk, isolated cells and seeded BMMOs. 3 L of milk was collected from bulk tank between 2020–2023 and the somatic cell count (SCC) per µL was measured using a DeLaval cell counter. Milk was discarded if the SCC was > 200 cells/µL. Graphs were determined using data provided in Supplemental Table 1. A) Milk SCCs were divided seasonally and presented as mean with N = 24. Normality was determined by the Shapiro-Wilk test. Data were found not to be normally distributed and so was statistically analysed using a Kruskal-Wallis with Dunn’s multiple comparison post hoc test. No significant differences (ns) were found between seasons. B) SCCs were determined in whole milk (3 L) and following the cell isolation protocol, the isolated cell count in 50 mL PBS suspension. C) Association between the SCCs from whole milk and isolated cells were determined using Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient (weak positive correlation, r = 0.51). Nonlinear regression calculated the line of best fit and the coefficient of determination (R² = 0.15). D) Number of isolated bovine mammary macrophages (BMMOs) were counted per well. Data (B and D) is presented as the medium, including upper and lower quartiles, with N = 96