Method for Assessing Teat and Udder Hygiene

Abstract

A new method was developed to quantify bacteria on bovine teats prior to milking. Previous methods using swabs to recover bacteria from teat skin have shown a high degree of variability in the amount of bacteria recovered depending on the amount of pressure applied to the teat/swab interface, the variability in the surface area of the teat swabbed, and the choice of the area to swab as the entire teat surface cannot be practically swabbed. This new method uses a single towel moistened with water to recover soil and bacteria from all four teats of each individual cow. Bacteria are then recovered from the towel and suspended in a sterile water solution. This solution is then cultured and tested using direct microscopic methods. Data are presented from several case studies which were designed to detect differences between different bedding management strategies on the bacteria population on the teats of cows as they entered the milking parlor as well as to detect the efficacy of pre milking teat sanitation in both conventional and automatic (robotic) milking facilities.