Influence of Some Hygienic Measures on the Prevalence of Subclinical Mastitis in a Dairy Farm

Abstract

Background and Objective: The hygienic measures of the farm especially during milking and the storage condition are all key agents in the count and kind of pathogen contamination present in the bulk milk, so the influence of some hygienic measures (bedding, silage, equipment swabs, worker hand swabs and SCM cow’s milk samples) of the farm on the prevalence of subclinical mastitis (SCM) pathogens was evaluated in this study. Material and Methods: Swabs (workers hands and milking equipment) silage, bedding, SCM samples were collected from dairy farm located in Fayoum district, Egypt and the different types of SCM pathogens were isolated. Bulk milk tank and water samples were subjected to count (total colony and coliforms), respectively. The significant (p<0.05) relationship between hygienic condition of environmental samples and prevalence of different subclinical mastitis pathogens was calculated. Results: In this study, 51 BTM (bulk tank milk) samples were examined through the 4 seasons of the year for the TCC, the highest mean value was 4.8×104±3.6×103 CFU mLG1 in the spring. The results of coliforms count of the examined 24 water samples from trough showed that, the highest mean value 8.3×10±3.45 MPN/100 mL was observed at the winter. Conclusion: There was a significant relation between the hygienic condition of the farm and microorganisms causing subclinical mastitis which could enter the food chain and accidently mixed with bulk tank milk which may induce health hazards to human, so adequate sanitary measures should be taken by improving the personnel, cow, equipment and farm hygiene. Producers should well know the influence of each hygienic measure on a load of microbes in raw milk and how they can control to prevent the occurrence of clinical form of mastitis.