Environmental Streptococci

Environmental streptococci and coliform infection rates are nearly identical.  The percentage of quarters infected with environmental streptococci at any one point in time is generally low and seldom exceeds 10 percent.  The impact of environmental streptococci mastitis is best assessed by culturing milk from fresh cows, cows going dry and clinically infected quarters.  Individual cow somatic cell counts and whole-herd cultures are less effective monitoring schemes.  Bulk tank milk bacterial and somatic cell counts can be elevated by infections caused by environmental streptococci.  However, the extent of environmental streptococci in a dairy herd cannot be reliably assessed by those measurements.