Bacterial flora on the mammary gland skin of sows and in their colostrum

Coliform mastitis in sows, as part of the postpartum dysgalactia syndrome, represents an economically very important disease complex.1 In other species, for instance in cows, a higher susceptibility of the mammary gland to new infections prior to and during parturition was proposed by Oliver and Sordillo.2 Though coliform mastitis is a multifactorial disease, bacteria play an important role in the pathogenesis of infection. Possibly, pathogenic bacteria are not ubiquitous only in the environment of the animals, but are also present on the skin. The skin flora of pigs, especially on sows’ mammary glands, has not yet been the object of scientific examination. This is, to the authors’ knowledge, the first published study to determine the bacterial flora in skin and colostral milk samples of a limited number of sows with clinically healthy mammary glands. Materials and methods All animal care and handling procedures used in this study followed the farms’ written guidelines in accordance with guidelines set forth by the Federation of Animal Science Societies.3