Short Communication: Bulk Tank Total Bacterial Count in Dairy Sheep: Factors of Variation and Relationship with Somatic Cell Count

A total of 9,353 records for bulk tank total bacterial count (TBC) were obtained over 1 yr from 315 dairy ewe flocks belonging to the Sheep Improvement Consortium (CPO) in Castilla-León (Spain). Analysis of variance showed significant effects of flock, breed, month within flock, dry therapy, milking...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of dairy science 2006-02, Vol.89 (2), p.549-552
Main Authors: Gonzalo, C., Carriedo, J.A., Beneitez, E., Juárez, M.T., De La Fuente, L.F., San Primitivo, F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Bacteria
breed differences
bulk milk
bulk tank milk
Cell Count
Colony Count, Microbial
dairy animals
ewe milk
ewes
Female
Mastitis - diagnosis
Mastitis - microbiology
Mastitis - veterinary
Milk - cytology
Milk - microbiology
milk quality
milk tanks
milking
milking parlors
Mycoplasma agalactiae
Mycoplasma Infections - diagnosis
Mycoplasma Infections - veterinary
plate count
Reproducibility of Results
Sheep
Sheep Diseases - diagnosis
Sheep Diseases - microbiology
Species Specificity
total bacterial count
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Summary:A total of 9,353 records for bulk tank total bacterial count (TBC) were obtained over 1 yr from 315 dairy ewe flocks belonging to the Sheep Improvement Consortium (CPO) in Castilla-León (Spain). Analysis of variance showed significant effects of flock, breed, month within flock, dry therapy, milking type and installation, and logSCC on logTBC. Flock and month within flock were important variation factors as they accounted for 22.0 and 22.1% of the variance, respectively. Considerable repeatability values were obtained for both random factors. Hand milking and bucket-milking machines elicited highest logTBC (5.31), whereas parlor systems with looped milkline (5.01) elicited the lowest logTBC. The implementation of dry therapy practice (5.12) showed significantly lower logTBC than when not used (5.25). Variability in logTBC among breeds ranged from 5.24 (Awassi) to 5.07 (Churra). However, clinical outbreaks of contagious agalactia did not increase TBC significantly. A statistically significant relationship was found between logTBC and logSCC, the correlation coefficient between the variables being r = 0.23. Programs for improving milk hygiene should be implemented for both total bacterial count and somatic cell count variables at the same time.
ISSN:0022-0302
1525-3198
DOI:10.3168/jds.S0022-0302(06)72117-8