Table 4.

Data organization for analysis in veterinary clinical encounters using the example encounter of Margery’s udder problem. Please note that only individual patient problems are presented here; population-level problems are skipped. Yet, the purchase of 10 cows is significant, as these may be a source of infection for the domestic population.

Step 1	Step 2	Step 3
List of Context/Clinical Data Collected	Data Categorization	Clinically Relevant Data Clustering
	Category	Information	Indicative of
Experienced dairy farmer	Extraneous	Margery, 5-year-old, Holstein cow	Signalment
Margery, 5-year-old, Holstein cow	Signalment	Margery is valuable Used as an embryo donor
Recurrent mastitis	Specific
Changes in milk composition but otherwise healthy	Specific	Recurrent mastitis	Involvement of the mammary gland
A previous bout of mastitis 3 weeks ago	Specific	Changes in milk composition but otherwise healthy
Both rear quarters affected. No other recorded health problems	Specific	A previous bout of mastitis 3 weeks ago
Purchased 10 cows from another producer (old shed and increasing somatic cell count)	Extraneous
The current herd consists of 600 milking cows	Non-specific
Other cows with clinical mastitis and 3 replacement neonatal calves with fever and head tilt, euthanized	Specific
NAD Environment	Extraneous
NAD husbandry (Milking machine thoroughly washed after each cycle)	Extraneous	Margery is bright and alert	No generalized malaise; No fever
Margery is bright and alert	Non-specific	TPR + mentation NAD
No increased heat, pain, or swelling in the affected quarters	Non-specific	No signs of pain
Milk composition from both rear quarters: watery with small flecks	Specific	Immunized against common BRD pathogens
Mrs Do concerned with Margery’s welfare	Extraneous	The current herd consists of 600 milking cows	Likely to be contagious
Margery is valuable Used as an embryo donor	Signalment	Other cows with clinical mastitis and 3 replacement neonatal calves with fever and head tilt, euthanized
		Purchased 10 cows from another producer (old shed and increasing somatic cell count)