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Analytical overview of dairy industry in the Poltava region, Ukraine
47-51Views:202The author presents essential characteristics of the state and place of Poltava region in it. The study aims at identification and description of latest trends in Ukraine’s and Poltava’s dairy industry. The author stresses an important place of the dairy industry in the agriculture of Ukraine, and particularly in the Poltava region. This article also presents the information of main indicators of dairy industry of Ukraine in the comparison with other countries of the World. It describe sources of forming the main agricultural products and directions of their use for the calendar year, data on per capita consumption of main dairy products in Ukraine and the Poltava Region and per capita average daily consumption of basic micro- and macro elements in foods. The study contains basic indicators which characterize the social and economic state of agriculture in Ukraine and its regions for 1990–2012. There are also the data of gross production and main kinds of dairy products per capita and as well as some indicators of livestock’s productivity and so on.
The goal of the article is to describe the complex evaluation of the achieved level of milk production, consumption of milk and dairy products in Ukraine and the Poltava Region, to show the specifics of the national dairy cattle breeding, identifying the main challenges in it.
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Investment funding programs on dairy farms in Hajdú-Bihar County
11-16Views:246The dairy farming sector needs constant modernization of its buildings, machines and technology in order to maintain its competitiveness and productivity. For the greater scale investments, these companies try to apply for state funds in addition to their own financial sources. Therefore, the investment support system plays a great role by improving the competitiveness and modernity of these farms. In the last 10 years, 7 funding programs were available for dairy farms. In this research, 25 dairy farms were interviewed in Hajdú-Bihar County. The examined farms cover more than 50% of the milk production in Hajdú-Bihar County. The survey questions focused on the investment funding program use of farms between 2007 and 2017 and renewable energy investments including all programs. The results show how many tenders were submitted, how many were successfully evaluated and completed. All farms had at least two successfully evaluated projects. A correlation was found between completed projects by farm size and completed projects. The connection of the modernity index of dairy farms and the completed projects was also shown.
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The Fattening and Slaughtering Examination at the Hungarian Racka Sheep
37-42Views:197Fattening and slaughtering characteristics of both types (black and white) of the Hungarian racka sheep were investigated at the site of the National Institute for Agricultural Quality Control in Atkár. The Hungarian merino, the dairy cigaja and the British milksheep were applied as control groups. 10 animals were examined from both sexes in each genotype. The examination was carried out according to the principles set in the Codex for sheep breeding. During the test acute diarrhoea occurred in each control group. However, only few lambs were excluded from the test from the British milksheep and the Hungarian merino groups because of significant changes in their condition. Consequently, the results obtained were not significantly influenced. No symptoms of any illness could be recognised in the Hungarian racka sheep, though. The significance of the difference between the average of the examined groups were checked by T-tests.
Daily gain was significantly less compared to the control groups, except for the white racka males. The lambs starving for 24 hours before slaughtering weighed 25.3-30.0 kgs on average. The black and white racka females weighed the least while the Hungarian merino females weighed the most. The quantity of abdominal and kidney fat was significant in the case of our native females. The quantity of abdominal fat was significantly bigger compared to each control group. On comparing the investigated groups it turned out that the white racka males had the biggest skin weight while the white Hungarian racka females had the smallest, that is the two extremes were recognised in the same colour (white) of one bred. On qualifying the slaughtered animals females had better results than males in each bred; the racka sheep were better than the dairy cigaja but were worse than the Hungarian merino and British sheep groups.
The huge differences in the carcasses of the groups were seen clearly when chopping. Examining the leg, it was noticed that the native groups proved to be smaller than the control groups, except for the black racka males. As for the short loin, the Hungarian racka and the Hungarian merino sheep proved to be the best, whereas the dairy cigaja and the British milk males had much smaller ones. The results gained when investigating the rack were similar to those of the short loin. As far as the rib and shoulder are concerned, the black racka females and the dairy cigaja females had the worst results. After chopping, the right side was also boned in every group. The small proportion of bone in the case of racka sheep was easily noticeable that resulted in the fact that the white racka females had the highest quantity of short loin compared to the other groups. When examining the back quarter, the bone proportions of the 4 racka groups proved to be significantly less than those of the control groups but it was not true for the meat proportions. As for the front quarter meat, the racka males were prominent in the great shoulder meat and in the small proportion of bone. The quantity of the first quarter bone was the least in the case of racka sheep and was the biggest for dairy cigajas. This difference proved to be significant in most cases.
In short, the Hungarian racka groups had the best results in meat quantity, which was especially significant compared to the dairy cigaja sheep. However, the quantity of external fat increased. -
Analysis of vitamin E content in pilot dairy products
49-52Views:394Within the framework of Ányos Jedlik program we started an experiment on feeding anti-oxidants with dairy cows at Körös-Maros Biofarm Kft. The purpose of the experiment was to test whether vitamin E and selenium fed as feed-supplement have an effect on the composition of milk produced. Furthermore we examined the cheese and yoghurt made out of the milk to explore how much vitamin E and selenium is retained in the products after processing. Our goal is to develop such functional dairy product which can be part of the daily diet helping us to remain healthy.
After analyzing the data we found out that the anti-oxidant fed to the cows resulted in elevated vitamin E and selenium levels in the milk and that these were retained in the cheese and yoghurt in relatively large amount.
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Study of animal welfare status and heat stress measures applied in dairy cow herds in Hungary
79-82Views:250The following material focuses on dairy production and climate related issues in Hungary. All the data was gathered during PhD
project: Study of animal welfare status in dairy cow herds in Hungary. Relations between animal welfare and climate changes expressed by
increase in temperature are described. Extremely hot weather creates hard conditions for milking cows when animal welfare is highly
compromised. From the preliminary results obtained one might formulate hypothesis that there are still areas on the farms where immediate
actions should be taken to give a relief to cows in hot seasons. There was found significant number of farms with too many animals per one
water trough, dirty water troughs, limited access to water troughs and hazardous surface for cows in critical places where many animals are
gathered. Calves with not sufficient amount of water in hot days and other parts of the year were reported. Silage exposure to the sun and
mouldy food in a silage clump was also found to be an important factor in monitoring impact of warm weather. Half of the farms letting
animals to spend time on the pasture or paddock did not provide shade for animals. Low conception rate of first insemination was predicted
to be influenced by heat stress, what is proved by lack of heat decreasing measures taken on the farms. -
Analyzing the Efficiency of Dairy Farms by Using the Method of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)
17-21Views:267In Hungary the dairy sector is in a long-term critical period, the stock has been in constant decline. The consumption of milk and dairy products in Hungary is slightly rising compared to the world tendency, and it is fallen behind the level in 1990. The milk consumption per capita in 2006 was with 75 liters less than the EU-15 average. Dairy enterprise is a very risky activity: the profitability of the enterprise is affected by the fluctuation of feed and animal health products prices from the side of inputs, and by the fluctuation of end-product prices. Under these circumstances it is vital for the
cattle breeders, in order to survive, to harness the reserves in the breeding as effectively as possible. In our research we made a multi-faceted efficiency analysis of an agricultural holding’s three dairy farms. The chosen method for the analysis was Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The
selection of the method is justified by the fact that there is not such a reliable database by which we could define production functions, and that DEA makes possible to manage several inputs and outputs, i.e. multiple decision problems, simultaneously. By using DEA the sources that causes shortfalls can be identified, analyzed and quantified on farms that does not operate efficiently, thus it can help the corporate decision support successfully. In the model inputs are the cost data per one liter milk – feed, medicinal product use, logistic costs -, and the main parameters
concerning the keeping and rearing. Outputs are indicators concerning milk production, milk quality and others. We prepared the model in MS Excel, the linear programming model series were programmed by Visual Basic. After solving the model, in light of the shadow prices we can determine why either of the farms is not efficient. -
Analysis of vitamin E content in pilot dairy products
31-34Views:321Within the framework of Ányos Jedlik program we started an experiment on feeding anti-oxidants with dairy cows at Körös-Maros Biofarm Kft. The purpose of the experiment was to test whether vitamin E and selenium fed as feed-supplement have an effect on the composition of milk produced. Furthermore we examined the cheese and yoghurt made out of the milk to explore how much vitamin E and selenium is retained in the products after processing. Our goal is to develop such functional dairy product which can be part of the daily diet helping us to remain healthy.
After analyzing the data we found out that the anti-oxidant fed to the cows resulted in elevated vitamin E and selenium levels in the milk and that these were retained in the cheese and yoghurt in relatively large amount. -
Inner pelvic measurements in dairy breeds
51-56Views:286Dystocia causes great financial losses: due to dystocia milk production is decreased and the probability of calf loss is increased. There are many factors that may cause dystocia. One of the factors –often investigated in beef cattle- is pelvic measurements. There have not been inner pelvic measurement comparisons in dairy breeds in Hungary.
After comparing the imported, primiparous cows, Jersey turned out to have the smallest absolute inner pelvic measures. According to their age and weight, Brown Swiss cows had the largest pelvic dimensions. Ayrshires, Norwegian and Swedish Red, the three dairy breeds which share similar genetic background did not differ in most measures. Holsteins were closest to the seemingly ideal 1:1 horizontal and vertical diameter ratio; however this breed suffers the most from dystocia. Jerseys, despite having the smallest pelvic area are famous of their calving ease, perhaps not by coincidence. Though this dairy breed is the lightest, when pelvic area was compared in ratio of body weight Jerseys were not smaller than the 130 and 114 kg heavier Norwegian and Swedish Red cows. -
Effect of the claw disorders on production performance in dairy cattle
15-19Views:297The aim of the study was the influence of claw disorders on production traits in dairy cattle. Observed were claw traits as claw angle, claw length, heel index, claw height, claw diagonal and claw width. Right hind claw after functional trimming was evaluated. Occurrence of claw disorders like interdigital dermatitis and heel erosion (IDHE), digital dermatitis (DD) and sole ulcer (SV) as well as the progress of disease were observed. Basic summary and variation statistics was performed by the SAS software. Two herds were included in the study. Holstein dairy cows (n=101) produced 11 875 kg of milk, 468 kg (3.94%) of fat and 396 kg (3.34%) of proteins. Holstein cows were affected with IDHE in 22 cases, with DD in 6 cases and with sole ulcer in 10 cases. Slovak Simmental dairy cows (n=101) produced 5834 kg of milk, 258 kg (4.44%) of fat and 209 kg (3.59%) of proteins. Slovak Simmental cows were affected with IDHE in 8 cases, with DD in 5 cases and with sole ulcer in 19 cases. Observed was that claw disorders caused deviations of milk production.
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Complex problem analysis of the Hungarian milk product chain
43-47Views:182Hungarian dairy sector went through significant changes in past two decades. The most significant changes were caused by our accession to the European Union. In Hungary milk production remarkably declined after EU accession. The size of our dairy herd has been practically reducing since the political transformation, but increasing yields per cow could compensate it in some way and for some time. However, in recent years, increasing yield per cow came to a stop and in parallel, the number of cows declined further and faster. Low prices, high production costs and tightening quality requirements ousted several producers from the market in past years. Feeding cost represents the highest rate in cost structure of production, but animal health expenditures and various losses are also significant. There are undeniably competitive disadvantages in the level of organisation and labour productivity; however competitiveness already depends on cost effectiveness in the medium run. In Hungary concentration of the dairies is relatively strong in spite of the relative high number of corporations. The dairies compete with each other and with the export market for the raw material and the better exploitation of their capacities. Applied technology of the Hungarian dairies lags behind the Western-European competitors’; in addition they have handicaps in efficiency and product innovation. Presence of chain of stores being dominant in sale of milk products does also not favour in all respects to the position of the dairies. The aforementioned retail chains are namely consumer-centric, engage in price follower conduct and weaken the position of the dairies with their private label products. As a result of increasing import of milk and milk products Hungary became a net importer in recent years. Today, disposable income still essentially determines the consumption habits of price-sensitive consumers. Loyalty for Hungarian products is not typical, consumers are open for import products being preferred by retail chains. In addition Hungarian milk and milk product consumption is about half of the Union average and it is far behind the level being necessary for healthy eating. In Hungary lack of competitiveness and vertical integration relationships and backwardness are revealing among the dairy farmers and the dairies, while chain of stores are in unprecedented “monopolistic situation”; the whole sector can be characterised by defencelessness.
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Microbial assessment of potential functional dairy products with added dried herbs
59-63Views:198The market of dairy products is a dynamically developing sector of the food industry. Potential, functional dairy products, made by adding herbs or spices, will have antimicrobial and antioxidant effect due to the active biochemical agents of the plant additives. Furthermore, these active components will widen the storage life of food products and enhance their organoleptic properties too. We worked out a technology for creating fresh cheeses using a gentle pasteurizing method by treating the mixture of raw milk and 1.5% fat contained in commercial milk. As herb additives, we used citronella (Melissa officinalis), and peppermint (Mentha x piperita) harvested by us and dried them via Tyndall-method in convective dryer on 40 °C for 5.5 hours per day. The drying period took three days. We bought dried citronella and mint from the supermarket, which were dried by ionizing radiation, to compare the microbiological pollution with the herbs dried by us.
The main target of this research was to create a microbiologically stable, potential functional dairy product. However, because of the bad quality of the raw milk and the gentle heat treatment we used for sterilizing bulk milk, or else, cheeses were not safe for human consumption. As a consequence, we need further studies to modify our technology and get a microbiologically stable product.
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Inner pelvic measurements in dairy breeds
31-35Views:312Dystocia causes great financial losses: due to dystocia milk production is decreased and the probability of calf loss is increased. There are many factors that may cause dystocia. One of the factors –often investigated in beef cattle- is pelvic measurements. There have not been inner pelvic measurement comparisons done on dairy breeds in Hungary.
After comparing the imported, primiparous cows, Jerseys turned out to have the smallest absolute inner pelvic measures. According to their age and weight, Brown Swiss cows had the largest pelvic dimensions. Ayrshire, Norwegian and Swedish Red, the three dairy breeds which share similar genetic background did not differ in most measures. Holsteins were closest to the apparent ideal 1:1 horizontal and vertical diameter ratio; however, this breed suffers the most from dystocia. Jerseys, despite having the smallest pelvic area are famous of their calving ease, perhaps not by coincidence. Although this dairy breed is the lightest, when the pelvic area was compared in ratio of body weight Jerseys were not smaller than the 130 and 114 kg heavier Norwegian and Swedish Red cows. -
Effect of vitamin e and selenium supplementation on the antioxidant content of milk and dairy products in dairy cows
9-12Views:271In 2007, the aim of the Ányos Jedlik program and the call for tenders was to support application-oriented, strategic research and development projects, which can increase the competitiveness of the Hungarian economy. In the framework of our project, we intended to examine whether non-protected antioxidants - in this case: vitamin E and selenium – used as feed-additives can increase the antioxidant content of milk. The milk with an increased level of vitamin E and selenium content can be used for producing functional foods which will represent competitive products on the current market of milk products. Our results show that the use of vitamin E and selenium as feedadditives can significantly increase the amount of vitamin E and selenium in the milk and also in the diary products.
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Evaluation of Dairy Farms’ Competitiveness
256-260Views:97The volume of milk production in the European Union is limited by quotas, thus dairy farms in Hungary can expand their production mostly at the others’ expenses after joining. In this way issues of arrangements arise relating to defining competitiveness of the already existing farms and not to farming new ones. The aims of my research is to find answers for dairy farms in the County of Hajdu-Bihar, depending on their arrangement (herd size, keeping technology, arable for forage production, handling manure, mechanisation, technician state of equipment) what possibilities they will have among the EU farmers.
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The role of type traits of dairy cattles in long productive life
11-18Views:275In the last few decades, a new intensive milking stock has developed as a result of breed-converter crossing in Hungary. Additionally, the reproduction biology of the population was adversely affected by keeping and feeding technologies. Productive lifetime has shortened and the service period has lengthened. However, profitable milk production requires cows with longer productive lives and larger life-time productions. In our study, we made a comparison between production, culling causes, and type traits of culled Holstein Friesian cows after first calving and of cows with a minimum of eight lactations. We established that the first lactation production of cows with longer productive lives was more or less homogeneous. Disease of metabolism as well as digestive and respiratory problems, were the main causes of the culling of cows with short productive lives, and reproduction and udder problems as well as low production, were the main causes of the culling of cows with long productive lives. We found a significant difference in the distributions of strength, body depth, dairy form, croup width, rear leg side view, foot angle, fore udder attachment and teat placement between the two groups. Furthermore, we established that cows with lower stature, less strength, a somewhat deeper body, better dairy form, narrower croup width, smaller foot angle, looser fore udder attachment and some outside teat placement had longer productive lives.
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Labour Efficiency of Dairy Farms with Different Types and Sizes in Hajdú-Bihar County
62-67Views:146Questions and uncertainties characterised the accession period of Hungary to the European Union. It is evident that only those producers can compete on the market who produce good quality products. Therefore, only dairy farms with extra high quality raw milk production will be successful. Furthermore, on this basis, rural areas will be able to keep their inhabitants one of the most important problems presently. The author examined the process of milk production and the labour efficiency of 18 dairy farms in Hajdú-Bihar County. Mechanization, the quality of the work force and the system of incentives were assessed. Data of produced milk quality were collected too. Because of farms with different types and sizes the circumstances of milk production differ greatly. As a result of data analysis it was found that the working schedule of small and large farms often differed. The most important working processes (milking, feeding, harvesting) are done by family members. In order to increase the efficiency and improve working atmosphere the improvement of wage and incentive systems would be desirable. Labour efficiency indexes show that the efficiency of tie-stall systems is lower than the efficiency of similar size loose-housing systems. It can also be stated; that labour efficiency of similar size loose housing dairies differs greatly so the importance of work-studies should be increased.
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Data supporting the quality of sheep milk for processing
67-73Views:258Although the volume of ingredients in ewe’s milk is substantially higher than in cow’s milk, its hygienic quality is lower. The weak quality of raw ewe’s milk limits the possibilities of processing and results in bad quality products. In our investigation we analysed the state of ewe’s milk processing at a typical medium size dairy firm. We investigated the collection, the amount and the quality of milk and the level of ingredients in milk throughout the purchasing period (lactation period).
The purchasing of ewe’s milk was limited to 5 months (from April to September). Although meat (lamb) provides the major source of income to sheep breeders the extension of the period of ewe’s milk production can be beneficial to shepherds and dairy firms. The amount of ewe’s milk ingredients found corresponded to published findings. However, the hygienic quality of ewe’s milk was varied greatly in the different milk samples and these deviations meant bad quality on average. Physiological factors, the circumstances of sheep breeding and milking, the slow cooling of the milk, the little amount of daily milk and the long storage before transportation to the dairy firm together cause poor hygienic quality. The main problem is the long storage time of milk, but our results raise the question of reconsidering the quality classes. Investigating the effect of the hygienic quality of raw milk on product quality, we can get correct data that can be really authoritative. -
Examination of the presence and effect of udder edema in Holstein-Friesian cattle
125-130Views:289Mastitis is the most common disease of dairy cows and the most expensive in terms of treatment. For this reason, great emphasis must be placed on its prevention. Based on literature sources, it can be said that there is a positive correlation between the prevalence of udder edema and the occurrence of mastitis. Our studies were carried out in a dairy farm in Csongrád-Csanád county. So far we have collected data from 64 cows with udder edema. The severity of udder edema was evaluated on a scale of 0–3 points one week before calving and for 3 weeks after calving. We observed that udder edema occurred in 78% of the studied cows at the time of the first calving. After calving, the length and diameter of the four udder teats were examined. Both anterior and posterior teats were shortened in severely edematous cows. When examining the diameter of the teat, we found that, depending on the severity of the edema, the anterior and posterior udder teats were 2.5 and 1.6 and 1.6 and 1.5 mm thicker respectively than those of cows without edema.
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Possibility of oil seeds in feeding dairy cows
67-73Views:413The efforts to modify the fatty acid composition of milk have intensified with health conscious nutrition coming to the forefront.This experiment of ours was designed to investigate to what extent the natural-based feed additives, such as oilseeds, can influence the fatty acid composition of cow’s milk.Further information was gained about feeding of oilseeds in specific amounts to be fitted into the technology of a large-scale dairy farm in practice. The feed supplements were whole, untreated rapeseed and whole, untreated linseed, as part of a total mixed ration. In case of saturated fatty acids when supplementing with whole rapeseed the most significant change was observable in the concentration of the caprylic acid, capric acid, undecylic acid, lauric acid, myristic acid, stearic acid. In case of unsaturated fatty acids the quantity of oleic acid enhanced considerably. When observating the feeding with whole linseed the concentration of many saturated fatty acids lowered (caprylic acid, capric acid, lauric acid, myristic acid, palmitic acid). The quantity of some unsaturated fatty acids was showing a distinct rise after feeding with linseed, this way the oleic acid, α-linolenic acid, conjugated linoleic acid, eicosadienoic acid. The aim of the study was to produce food which meets the changed demands of customers, as well.
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Correlation between body condition change and reproduction parameters of Holstein-Frisian cows after calving
49-52Views:270The authors examined the body condition with relation to reproduction of Holstein-Friesian cows on three dairy farms in the South Plain region. During the examination they analyzed the data of 516 births of 494 Holstein-Friesian cows. They were trying to find correlation between the first service, the service period and the service rates. The examinations with regard to the correlations were different from the ones published in the professional literature. The body condition at the time of calving affected the interval from calving to the first service but not the conception
rates or the service period. The examinations did not prove any correlations between body condition changes and reproduction. -
Study on the Work Organization at Dairy Farms
293-296Views:169Joining the European Union Hungarian producers have advantages but they need to solve some problems too. Only those producers can compete who will be able to produce extra quality milk. However the circumstances of milk production are not up to the task.
The author examined the work organization of 7 dairy farms in Hajdú-Bihar County. Data were collected about the situation of farms, equipment of barns, objets of production, work force, qualification of workers, and productivity of work. He examined the applied motivation methods at farms. He concluded that as the number of cows per farm increases work productivity increases too. From the examination it appeared that family farms applied different motivation system from bigger producer organizations. The author put forward proposals for motivation possibilities to improve milk quality, atmosphere, and general feeling of workers. -
Production and disposition of purebred Jersey populations
89-96Views:326In Hungary crossbreeding wit Jersey has been in practice since 2004. Uniquely in the Hungarian history of the Jersey breed two times fifty head pregnant heifers were imported in 2006. The aim of our study is to present through the description of the production and the type traits of the population the inherent possibilities of Jersey. The breed is presented by the figures of the rolling lactations, 305 day milk production, correlations between the traits and by the results of the evaluation of type traits. Analyses of the data were done by using independent samples t-test.
Based on data of 87 cows the average number of days in milk is 308 and 48 cows has finished lactation. During the rolling lactation they produced 5050 kg milk with 5.34% fat and 3.8% protein content.
The first lactation Jersey cows’ production when corrected to 305 days was 5089 kg milk with 5.35% fat and 3.81% protein. Between the herds there was significant difference in milk kg, amount of fat produced, protein content and amount of protein produced. On the two farms distribution of cows belonging to different production levels is very different. The biggest difference is when categorized by the amount of milk produced.
Correlation between the milk kg and fat kg is the greatest (r=0.950). Similar values were obtained for the correlation between fat and protein kg (r=0.919) and for the milk kg and fat kg (r=0,898).
Disposition of the Jersey cows is very well balanced. Their stature, strength, body depth, dairy form, rump angle and pin width is favorable, the average scores are between 4.5 and 6.5. The leg of the cows is a bit sickly, and is hocking in a little with medium-low angled hoof. Average values of all traits describing the udder are between 4 and 5. Cows belonging to the two herds differ by disposition. Significant difference exists in the following traits: body depth, dairy form, pin width, rear leg - side view, rear leg, rear view, foot angle, fore udder attachment, teat length. The
Jersey population imported to Hungary has a final score of 78 points which equals with the “good” qualification. -
Coagulase-negative staphylococci in ewe udder surface and raw milk samples
221-225Views:403Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) are among the major causes of subclinical mastitis in dairy ewe flocks. This has a financially significant impact on the ewe dairy sector and consumer health. The determination of the bacterial count, particularly CNS, is critical in terms of the quantity and quality of ovine milk. Thus, the purpose of this study was to quantify the CNS count in the udder surface and raw milk samples of the ewe, in addition to identifying CNS strains (n=8) collected from udder surface and individual raw milk samples by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. A total of 164 samples of udder surface and raw milk originated from four sheep farms were tested. The obtained values were compared between the different farms. Furthermore, values during 2018 and 2019 in the case of Farm I were compared. Significantly higher (p<0.05) average count was observed in udder surface samples taken from Farm I (2.8±1.0 lg CFU/cm2) than that of Farm III samples (2.3±0.6 lg CFU/cm2). In the case of individual raw milk, the higher value was observed in samples derived from Farm III (3.5±0.9 lg CFU/mL), while the obtained value was significantly lower (p<0.05) in samples originated from Farm IV (1.8±0.4 lg CFU/mL). In the bulk tank milk samples, the highest mean value was 5.3±0.4 CFU/mL, and there was no significant (p>0.05) variation between farms. Coagulase-negative staphylococci counts were decreased to a certain extent in both sample types tested during 2019 except for individual raw milk derived from the Tsigai breed. The correlation between the mean CNS counts of udder surface and individual raw milk was very weak (r=0.048). Staphylococcus simulans, Staphylococcus auricularis, and Staphylococcus equorum were identified by molecular sequencing and Staphylococcus simulans were the most frequently identified CNS species. A higher CNS count of bulk tank milk than individual raw milk indicates possible contamination during milking and storage. Therefore, further studies are required to investigate the other sources of bulk tank milk contamination to improve the hygienic quality of milk.
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The effect of breed and stage of lactation on the microbiological status of raw milk
37-45Views:598The microbiological quality of the milk is important not only for food safety, but it can also influence the quality of dairy products. The microbiological status of raw cow milk can be influenced by many factors. Our aim was to determine whether there was a difference between the microbiological quality of milk of two different cow breeds (Holstein Friesian and Jersey) kept and milked in the same conditions, and how the microbiological quality of the raw cow milk changed during lactation (beginning, mid, and end). Samples were taken and analysed in July, August and September in 2018 from two dairy farms in Hajdú-Bihar county. During the conducted studies, the total plate count (TPC), the coliform count, the Staphylococcus aureus count and the coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (CNS) count of raw milk samples were determined.
There was no significant difference (P>0.05) between the milk of the Holstein Friesian and Jersey breeds in the case of TPC. However, the mean coliform count of milk samples taken from Holstein Friesian cows was significantly lower (P<0.05) than the mean coliform count of milk samples taken from Jersey cows. S. aureus was detected in one of the twelve milk samples taken from Holstein Friesian cows, and in two of the eleven milk samples taken from Jersey cows. CNS was found in larger amount in milk samples taken from Holstein Friesian cows, and the difference was significant (P<0.05). Both TPC and CNS count were significantly higher (P<0.05) in individual milk samples taken at the end stage of lactation, than in samples taken in the earlier stages of lactation from Farm “A”. However, in the case of Farm “B”, there was no significant difference (P>0.05) in colony counts at different stages of lactation. S. aureus was only present in milk samples that collected from cows, which were at the beginning and middle stages of lactation. Testimg the hemolysin production ability of S. aureus strains isolated from the raw milk samples, only weak hemolysis was observed on blood agar. In case of antibiotic resistance testing, it was found that all strains were susceptible to cefoxitin, chloramphenicol, clindamycin, erythromycin, gentamicin, penicillin G, tetracycline and trimethoprim/sulphamethoxazole.
Based on the results of our studies, staphylococci were detected in a higher amount in the milk of Holstein Friesian cows, and coliform bacteria were detected in a higher number in the milk of Jersey cows. Summing up the results of the milk samples taken from the different stages of lactation in one of the farms, it can be concluded that higher TPC and CNS count could be detected at the end stage of lactation than in the samples taken from the earlier stages of lactation. The fact that at the end of lactation the microorganisms could be detected in a higher colony count may be related to the fact that teats could be damaged during lactation by the milking machine, which increased the chance of imvading the microorganisms into the udder.
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Study of animal welfare status in dairy cow herds in Hungary – looking for causes of lameness
47-50Views:318In the last 20–30 years lameness in cattle was found to be third the most influential disease next to mastitis and reproduction disorders. Studies have been established to explore reasons for lameness and prevention. The problem with more robust prevention plans is that knowledge and research evidence is not strong enough to run an effective prevention plan. The aim of the research is to look for reasons of lameness by observing number of cows on 6 farms during 2 lactations. Performance data will be put together to body condition score (BCS) and lameness scores. Other examination is focused on monitoring of 40 farms. This part of the project is more related to extension, collecting and sharing solutions for decreasing lameness. Producers are advised what kind of measures are possible to reduce occurrence of lameness. Effectiveness of those actions will be measured at the end of the study. The first preliminary results show lack in almost all preventive measures needed to be taken in minimising lameness. Those areas are related to poor facilities, lack of straw, problems with labour and basic management.