Managing Mastitis in Sheep and Goats

In the March 202 UI-UW-USU Extension Sheep & Goat Monthly Webinar, Ryan Knuth with the University of Wyoming discussed managing mastitis in sheep and goats. Webinars take place live on the second Wednesday of each month, follow us on Facebook for updates: UISheepandGoats
Post-webinar survey: uidaho.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/...

[@beri3899]

What about genetic selection as it relates to udder confirmation in sheep? Are there udder confirmation issues that appear to contribute to mastitis prevalence in sheep?

[@universityofidahoextension2590]

Great question! In general, most of the literature says somatic cell count is lowly heritable, meaning that the environment plays a greater role in the offspring's phenotype than parental genetics. However, there are some reports of genetic correlations indicating moderately strong relationships between somatic cell count and udder depth, udder length, teat angle, or teat width. Though the statistical significance between these relationships has varied across studies, putting some selection pressure on some of these traits could help reduce somatic cell count. And most of these traits want a "moderate" score; about a 45° teat angle from the udder, teats that are in moderate length, nothing too long or too short, and an udder in moderate size/depth so as to select for increased milk yield without the udder becoming too large or too low to the ground to make it difficult for lambs to suckle. In an average sheep flock, it's unlikely that there will be many extremes for these udder conformation traits, but if there are extreme ewes those may be the ones more prone to developing mastitis and to keep a close eye on.