Challenging investment in orally administered supplementary trace minerals Teagasc estimates that milk somatic cell count (SCC) levels above 100,000 mean you are losing money. On average mastitis costs farmers €60/cow/year (O’Brien et al., 2016). Cows are especially vulnerable to health disorders like this during the transition period and approximately 75% of disease incidence (mastitis, metritis, ketosis, abomasal displacement, etc.) occurs in the first month of lactation (LeBlanc et al., 2006), in particular the first 10 days after calving (Ingvartsen et al., 2003), coinciding with the most rapid increase in milk yield. Better udder health Trace minerals like copper (Cu) and selenium (Se) play an important role in udder health. In particular, reduced zinc (Zn) levels have been linked to increased SCC (Davidov et al., 2013).