Methods for Interpretation of Bulk Tank Cultures and Udder Hygiene Tests for Diagnosing High Bacteria Counts: Or, a High Lpc Count Is Not Always a Cleaning Failure

This method relies on the RELATIVE COMPARISON between numbers to formulate a diagnosis. (Examples of this are presented in the appendix). The most common misapplication of the method is the formulation of a diagnosis based on only one of these numbers without considering the relative values of the others (a high LPC count does not always indicate a cleaning failure). As indicated in the interpretive guidelines for the use of Figure 1, LPC data is correlated with coliform data because there are thermoduric bacteria are present in the environment so that when environmental contamination occurs both numbers go up. Coliform (and other environmental organisms) make up a larger percentage of the population than thermoduric organisms so that the increase in coliform count is larger than the increase in LPC.