. 2023 May 16;21(5):e07993. doi: 10.2903/j.efsa.2023.7993

Table 28.

Comparison of housing systems regarding mastitis indicators (bacteriological findings, clinical mastitis and somatic cell counts)

Country	Variable	Tie‐stall	Cubicle	Straw yard	Compost‐bedded pack	Reference
Bacteriological findings (BACT)
CH	BACT: environm. pathogens IMI ^(a)	ns	ns			Bludau et al. (2016)
FI	BACT: CNS, S. uberis, S. dysgal., C. bovis	ns	ns			Taponen et al. (2017)
FI	BACT: E. coli	↓	↑ (with parlour)			Taponen et al. (2017)
SE	BACT: other pathogens	ns	ns			Duse et al. (2021)
SE	BACT: T. pyogenes	↓	↑			Duse et al. (2021)
DE, DK	BACT: quarter bact. pos. & SCC > 100		↓	↑		Ivemeyer et al. (2018)
Clinical mastitis (CM)
IT	CM: medical dry‐off	↑	↓			Zanon et al. (2021)
NO	CM: mastitis treatments	ns	ns			Simensen et al. (2010)
SE	CM: acute	ns	ns			Nielsen and Emanuelson (2013)
AT	CM: acute or chronic	ns	ns			Firth et al. (2019)
AT	CM: CM /cow & year	ns	ns			Schenkenfelder and Winckler (2021)
CAN	CM: CM/100 cow‐years at risk	ns	ns			Levison et al. (2016)
USA	CM: CM/305‐cow‐days	↑	↓	↑		Richert et al. (2013)
USA	CM: CM/week		ns		ns	Eckelkamp et al. (2016a)
ES	CM: CM in 150DIM			↑	↓	Astiz et al. (2014)
USA	CM: CM ^(b)			↓	↑	Sjostrom et al. (2019)
Somatic cell count (SCC)
FI	SCC: CSCC	ns	ns			Hiitio et al. (2017)
	SCC: SCC ≥ 200 in ≥ 1 of 4 test days	↓	↑
	SCC: SCC ≥ 200 in ≥ 3 of 4 test days	↓	↑
NO	SCC: gBMSCC	ns	ns			Simensen et al. (2010)
SE	SCC: Score BMSCC ^(c)	ns	ns (with parlour)			Nielsen and Emanuelson (2013)
SE	SCC: LL; HL; HH herds ^(d)	( ↓ )	( ↑ )			Persson Waller et al. (2021)
USA	SCC: SCS ^(e)	↓	↑			Dechow et al. (2011)
CA	SCC: gBMSCC	↑	↓			Bauman et al. (2018)
BE	SCC: SCS ^(f)	↑	↓	↑		Detilleux et al. (2012)
DE, DK	SCC: SCS		↓ (deep‐bedded)	↑		Ivemeyer et al. (2018)
DE, DK	SCC: cure during lactation		↓	↑		Ivemeyer et al. (2018)
AT, DE, IT, NL, SI, SE	SCC: log₁₀SCC		↓		↑	Emanuelson et al. (2022)
	SCC: high SCC ^(g)		↓		↑
	SCC: new high SCC ^(g)		↓		↑
IT	SCC: CSCC		↑		↓	Biasato et al. (2019)
USA	SCC: BMSCC		ns		ns	Eckelkamp et al. (2016a)
USA	SCC: SCC ≥ 200		ns		ns	Eckelkamp et al. (2016a)
ES	SCC: mean lactation SCC			( ↑ )	( ↓ )	Astiz et al. (2014)
USA	SCC: SCS ^(b)			ns	ns	Heins et al. (2019)
USA	SCC: BMSCC	( ↓ )	( ↓ )	↑	( ↓ )	Eckelkamp et al. (2016a)

↓ = significantly less mastitis (p < 0.05), (↓) = a tendency for less mastitis (p < 0.1), ↑ = significantly more mastitis (p < 0.05); (↑) = a tendency for more mastitis (p < 0.1); ns = not significant. The housing systems compared are indicated by these arrows and empty cells mean that the corresponding housing system was not included in the comparison.

^(a)

Primiparous cows, early lactation.

^(b)

Straw yard outside, compost bedded pack inside.

^(c)

Score BMSCC: very high, high, medium, low, very low.

^(d)

CSCC in first two test days: LL = low‐low = primiparous cows with SCC ≤ 75 at first and second milk recording (≤ 75 ≤ 75).

^(e)

Lower SCS in tie‐stall confined and tie‐stall outdoor + component feed vs. both cubicle systems and to tie‐stall with outdoor + TMR.

^(f)

Tie‐stall and straw yard group together as one group.

^(g)

High SCC: > 150 in primiparous cows, > 200 in multiparous cows, HH = high‐high = SCC > 100 at both test days (> 100 > 100); HL = high‐low = SCC > 100 ≤ 75. – > % LL, HL, HH cows/herd & year. – > herds above Q2 in year 1 and above Q3 in year 2 and 3 classified as LL, HH, HL herds.