Many of the animals that carry subclinical chronic infections or are close to the end of the
lactation are not identified because there are no recognizable symptoms and the milk appears
normal. Routine milk testing, such as California mastitis test (CMT) on the farm or more
advanced laboratory techniques such as use of sophisticated cell counters enable identification of
subclinically infected animals soon after they acquire the infection. However, these methods are
laborious and/or require special equipment; also, in many cases, they identify the infected animals long after they become infected. Thus, the possibility of taking a real-time rational
decision to separate low-quality milk would depend on availability of on-line technology to
recognize such changes.