Evaluation of finger imprint persistence as a practical method for measuring the severity of mammary oedema in dairy cows

The study aims to assess the severity of udder oedema around the calving using a traditional scoring (0-3 point scale) and the firstly applied fingerprint test to measure skin firmness. Furthermore, it was investigated how the degree of udder oedema is influenced by the effects taken into account in the processing. The study was carried out on 62 animals diagnosed with udder oedema before calving at a typical large-scale dairy operation in Hungary. It was found that with more severe udder oedema, the first udder teats are thicker (P = 0.038) and the udder skin surface is cooler (P = 0.007), and the duration of the fingerprint is significantly longer (P < 0.001). There is a strong positive correlation between oedema severity and fingerprint persistence (r = 0.66, P < 0.05). This suggests that the persistence of finger imprint is a reliable indicator of the severity of udder oedema.