The present study was designed to assess the correlation among the automatic somatic cell count and the microscopic somatic cell count using the Broadhurst-Paley (BP), Hematoxilin-eosin (HE) and Rosenfeld dyes. The milk smears were stained with BP, HE and Rosenfeld and the automatic cell count was performed by flow cytometry. The mean logarithmic microscopic SCC by BP and Rosenfeld was higher than the values from automatic SCC and microscopic SCC by HE (P<0.0001). Indeed, the mean values from microscopic SCC using the HE was lower than the automatic cell count (P<0.0001). The correlation among the automatic cell count and the microscopic SCC using the HE, BP and Rosenfeld dyes were 0.774, 0.803 e 0.859 (P<0.0001), respectively. The automatic SCC values and the estimated automatic SCC applying the quadratic equation using the results of the microscopic SCC using the HE (P=0.90), BP (P=0.09) and Rosenfeld (P=0.23) dyes were not different. Thus, it can be concluded that the SCC was influenced by the methodology applied, and nonspecific stains used for microscopic SCC can be used to assess udder health in ewes if an equation is applied to estimate automatic SCC.
mastitis; milk; sheep; somatic cell count
