The Effect of Sour Milk as a Postmilking Teat Dip for Mastitis Prevention in a Dairy Herd

Abstract

In a preliminary in vitro study, the growth of Staphylococcus aureus was totally inhibited during incubation for 24 h at 35 °C–37°C in a solution of cooked commercial milk with 1% of uncooked commercial sour milk (“A piimä”). In a subsequent clinical trial, “A piimä” sour milk with 5% glycerol was used as a post-milking teat dip from February to June. Quarterly milk samples were drawn once a month aseptically from 133 cows. Percentages of pathogen positive samples and somatic cell count (SCC) from teats dipped with the sour milk were compared with those dipped with a commercial iodine teat dip and those of undipped controls. During March-June there were fewer isolations of S. aureus (2.09%) and coagulase-negative staphylococci (2.52%) in the sour-milk group than in the control group (3.09% and 4.07%, respectively). In iodine group, there were fewer isolations of S. aureus (0.83%) but more isolations of coagulase-negative staphylococci (5.26%) than in the control group. During the study period, the percentages of bacterial isolates did not differ statistically significantly between treatments, p = 0.291. The percentage of quarters with a SCC over 125,000 at the end of the study was one third lower in the sour-milk group than in the control group (16.67% and 26.23% respectively) but the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.074). The results indicate that a sour-milk teat-dip preparation can inhibit new intra mammary infections (IMI).

Sammanfattning

I den första studιen tillsattes 1% okokt sur mjölk “A pιιmä” tιll kokt mjölk. Blandningen förhιndrade Staphylococcus aureus tillväxt in vitro. I den följande klinιska studien användes “A piimä” med 5% glycerol som ett spendoppnιngsmedel efter mjölknιng från och med februari tιll och med junι. Juverfjärdedelsprov togs en gång ι månaden från 133 kor. Bakteriefynd och SCC i mjölkprov från juverfjärdedelar som doppats med sur mjölk jämfördes med dem som doppats med spendoppnιngsmedel ιnnehållande jod och med dem som inte doppats. Färre S aureus (2.09%) och CNS (2.52%) påvιsades ι “surmjölksgruppen” än ι kontrollgruppen (3.09% och 4.07%), respektιve). I jodgruppen förekom färre S aureus posιtιva mjölkprov (0.83%) men flera CNS posιtιva mjölkprov (5.26%) än ι kontrollgruppen. Skιllnaderna var ιnte statistiskt sιgnιfikanta (p = 0.291). Procenten juverfjärdedelar med somatιska celler över 125,000 ι slutet av studιen var en tredjedel mιdre i “surmjölksgruppen” än ι kontrollgruppen (16.67% och 26.23%, p = 0.074). Resultaten ιndιkerar att surmjölk kan minska uppkomsten av nya juverinflammatιoner.