The current study aimed to investigate new udder health traits based on data from automatic milking systems (AMS) for use in routine genetic evaluations. Data were from 77 commercial herds; out of these, 24 had equipment for measuring online cell count (OCC), whereas all had data on electrical conductivity (EC). A total of 4,714 Norwegian Red dairy cows and 2,363,928 milkings were included in the genetic analyses. Electrical conductivity was available on quarter level for each milking, whereas OCC was measured per milking. The AMS traits analyzed were log-transformed online cell count (lnOCC), maximum conductivity (ECmax), mean conductivity (ECmean), elevated mastitis risk (EMR), and log-transformed EMR (lnEMR). In addition, lactation mean somatic cell score (LSCS) was collected from the Norwegian dairy herd recording system. Elevated mastitis risk expresses the probability of a cow having mastitis and was calculated from smoothed lnOCC values according to individual trend and level of the OCC curve. The udder health traits from AMS were analyzed as repeated milkings from 30 to 320 DIM, and LSCS as repeated parities. In addition, both ECmax and lnOCC were analyzed as multiple traits by splitting the lactation into 5 periods. (Co)variance components were estimated from bivariate mixed linear animal models, and investigated traits showed genetic variation. Estimated heritabilities of ECmean, ECmax, and lnEMR were 0.35, 0.23, and 0.12, respectively, whereas EMR and lnOCC both showed heritabilities of 0.09. Heritability varied between periods of lactation, from 0.04 to 0.13 for lnOCC and from 0.12 to 0.27 for ECmax, although standard errors of certain periods were large. Genetic correlations among the AMS traits ranged from 0 to 0.99. The genetic correlations between EC-based traits and OCC-based traits in AMS were 0. Genetic correlations with LSCS were favorable, ranging from 0.37 to 0.80 (±0.11-0.22). The strongest correlation (0.80 ± 0.13) was found between LSCS and lnEMR. Results question the value of ECmax and ECmean as indicators of udder health in genetic evaluations and suggest OCC to be more valuable in this manner. This study demonstrates a potential of using AMS data as additional information on udder health for genetic evaluations, although further investigation is recommended before these traits can be implemented.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a quantitative trait locus associated with mastitis caused by Escherichia coli, with one haplotype being more susceptible (HH) and another being more resistant (HL) to E. coli mastitis, on the activity of 4 inflammatory related milk enzymes. In particular, we investigated the suitability of β-glucuronidase (GLU) as an early indicator of E. coli mastitis. Besides GLU, the enzymes l-lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), N-acetyl-β-d-glucosaminidase (NAGase), and alkaline phosphatase were included. The study was conducted in an experimental setup with 31 Holstein cows divided into 4 groups representing repeated experiments and, within group, divided according to quantitative trait locus haplotype. All cows were inoculated with viable E. coli, and milk samples were collected 27 times from -6 to 396 h post-E. coli inoculation (PI). Activity of the 4 enzymes in milk, somatic cell count (SCC), daily milk yield, viable E. coli counts, and results of a semiquantitative polymerase chain reaction for pathogen detection, were all analyzed with a repeatability model. The response variables all expressed a strong reaction to the E. coli infection. Daily milk yield decreased significantly at 12 h PI and bacteria counts increased 100-fold and peaked at 18 h PI, which was validated by PCR. Also, SCC started to increase at 12 h PI and increased on average 70 times; however, no significant differences in SCC level were detected between HH and HL cows at any sampling point. The enzymes LDH, NAGase, and alkaline phosphatase showed similar responses, with a significantly increased activity and higher peak values for the HH than the HL cows. Significant differences between HH and HL cows were detected at different time points for these 3 enzymes, but not after adjusting P-values for multiple testing. A different pattern was also observed for GLU, where HL cows expressed the highest peak activity. Indication of differences in GLU activity between the 2 haplotype groups was only seen at 60 h PI. It was concluded that HL and HH cows expressed similar response patterns after E. coli infection but with differences in the size and profile of the activity of the 4 enzymes. The enzyme GLU was an equally good indicator of E. coli mastitis compared with the other studied enzymes, although it showed a slower response compared with LDH and NAGase.