The comparison of milking hygiene with bulk tank somatic cell count and total bacterial count in dairy herds in Tekirdağ province

The Comparison of Milking Hygiene with Bulk Tank Somatic Cell Count and Total Bacterial Count in Dairy Herds in Tekirdağ Province The investigation of mammary health and milking hygiene procedures, bulk tank milk SCC and total viable bacterial counts, and detecting deficiencies and mistakes following the comparisons of results in Tekirdağ province were aimed. The bulk tank milk samples were collected from 50 family farms. 150 ml of sterile milk samples were taken from cooled mixing milk tanks. Somatic cell counts and total viable bacterial counts were analyzed using by Bentley FTS/FCM Combi 400. On the milk sampling day, a questionnaire was filled out to farm personal or owner to evaluate mastitis control programs applied in the farms. In the bulk tank milk samples, mean SCC was found 560204.08 (±12399.769) cells/ml, and mean total viable bacterial count were found 1.796.718,36 (±156.573,31) CFU/ml. Mean milch cow number was detected as 19.74, daily milk production was 347.24 liters, and mean milk production per cow was 23.20 liter according to survey results. There were any milking staff was working in the 43 farms, milking process was performing by family members, milking was twice a day, semi-automatic milking system was using in the 41 farms and automatic system was using in the 9 farms, and only 10 farms had milking parlors. It was detected that premilking cleaning and drying, teat-dipping, strip before milking, dry-cow management and mastitis control program procedures were using hardly ever. There was a positive correlation between mean daily milk production and SCC; a negative correlation between milking system general overhaul frequency/milking time per cow and SCC (p<0.05). Negative correlation was found between milking system general overhaul frequency/ mean milking time per cow and total viable bacterial count similar to SCC (p<0.05). There was a negative correlation between animal number/milch cow number in the farm and milking system general overhaul frequency (p<0.05); a significant correlation between animal number/milch cow number in the farm and mean milking time per cow were found (p<0.01). In conclusion, SCC and total viable bacterial count were higher than acceptable values due to the insufficient practice of mastitis control programs in the small and middle family farms in Tekirdağ province. It was considered that some education seminars and/or contact meetings about this issue by Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Veterinary Faculties and regional chambers of veterinarians should be planned. Keywords: Cow, Bulk Tank Milk, Somatic Cell Count, Total Viable Bacterial Count, Mastitis Control Programs