Effect of Pre-milking Antiseptic Treatment on the Bacterial Contamination of Cow Teats’ Skin

The primary objective of premilking udder preparation and teats antiseptic is to achieve an acceptable level of decontamination of teat skin. This aids in reducing the spread of microorganisms and incidence of new intramammary infections, and in minimising the number of bacteria. The aim of our studies was to investigate the influence of pre-milking teat antiseptic solutions on total bacterial contamination of teat skin. Three udder antiseptics were applied: Dermisan 0.5% (active ingredient – aminopropyl laurylamine), 0.2% solution with active ingredient iodine, and foaming solution of natural compounds (lactic acid+glycerol+allantoin). Cow teats were swabbed before and after application of udder preparations. The total bacterial contamination on cows teat skin was determined employing serial dilutions and plate count method. Microorganisms were identified under uniform conditions on McConkey (for Gram-negative bacteria), Columbia blood agar medium (for staphylococci), containing 5% sheep’s blood, Edwards (for streptococci) agars. The statistical analysis of the data was performed using descriptive statistics and independent-sample T test procedures in SPSS 13.0 for Windows. The udder applications with lactic acid and iodine had the highest probability (P<0.05) of reducing total bacterial contamination. The use of udder antiseptics for premilking teats preparation reduced the levels of coliforms, coagulase negative staphylococci and Streptococcus uberis but with exception of iodine, no effect was found on reducing Candida genus yeasts.