The purpose of this investigation was to compare herd-level new infec-tion risk of bovine intramammary infections regarding husbandry man-agement factors. The new infection risk was derived from cow-level somatic cell counts that were provided by monthly dairy herd improve-ment tests and collected over a period of 3 years and 4 months from 60 commercial dairy farms located in Lower Saxony, Germany. Factors of the management of the farm, the livestock and milking were generated as potential predicting variables. Based on the results of linear mixed models, the herd-level new infection risk was significantly associated with the pre-milking routine and the housing of fresh-lactating cows. When forestripping of every cow was included in the pre-milking rou-tine, this had a beneficial impact on the new infection risk, especially when a foremilking cup was used. Keeping fresh-lactating cows in pens separated from the herd had a negative impact on the udder health, especially when housed together with sick cows. The results of this study confirm that the management of the milking routine and the environment can contribute to the control of udder health and milk quality