BACKGROUND Clinoptilolite is a natural zeolite with high adsorption capacity for polar mycotoxins such as aflatoxins. The efficacy of clinoptilolite in ameliorating the toxic effects of aflatoxicosis has been proven in monogastric animals, but there is no such evidence for ruminants. The aim of this study was to evaluate, under field conditions, whether the dietary administration of clinoptilol...

Dairy cattle are a primary reservoir of Coxiella burnetii, which causes Q fever. However, no recent nationwide studies have assessed the prevalence and risks of Q fever in dairy cattle. We report >or=94% prevalence in samples of bulk tank milk from U.S. dairy herds tested during the past 3 years.

A simple, rapid, inexpensive fluorescence polarization assay for the detection of antibodies to Brucella abortus in bulk tank milk samples at the farm level or at dairies with a sensitivity and specificity of 100 and 95.9%, respectively, is described. The assay detects antibodies to B. abortus in 15 min by testing undiluted whey produced by chemical and physical manipulation of milk from bulk t...

Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) is the causative agent of Johne's disease in cattle and it has been suggested that this organism may be associated with Crohn's disease in humans. Cows at the advanced stage of the disease shed this organism into both their milk and feces. The objective of this study was to develop a more efficient procedure for isolating MAP from bulk tank raw ...

In the past decade, the demand for organic agricultural products has increased rapidly in the United States and worldwide. Milk quality research is of major interest to both consumers and dairy farmers alike. However, scientific data on milk quality, herd management methods, and animal welfare on organic farms in the United States has been lacking before the research from this study. The object...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the presence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative Staphylococcus spp. in bulk tank milk samples from 288 organic and conventional dairy farms located in New York, Wisconsin, and Oregon from March 2009 to May 2011. Due to recent publications reporting the presence mecC (a mecA homolog not detected by traditional mecA-ba...

The objective of this work was to determine on-farm risk factors for psychrotrophic bacterial counts in bulk tank milk from dairy farms in Argentina. Raw milk samples from bulk tanks of 27 dairy farms were examined for total psychrotrophic counts (TPC), proteolytic psychrotrophic counts (PPC) and lipolytic psychrotrophic counts (LPC) (dependent or outcome variables). A survey recording infrastr...

Consumers are increasingly concerned about the safety of their food and uncertain about food production practices. Potential threats to human health related to dairy products and dairy farming include errors in pasteurization, consumption of raw milk products, contamination of milk products by emerging heat-resistant pathogens, emergence of antimicrobial resistance in zoonotic pathogens, chemic...

In order to improve the spatial resolution of current risk maps for fasciolosis in cattle, more knowledge is needed with respect to farm-level factors that determine infection risk. In this study, we visited 39 dairy farms within a predefined low- and high-risk area for fasciolosis in Belgium and assessed their infection status by an indirect bulk tank milk enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (EL...

A variety of diagnostic tests are routinely used to evaluate milk quality on dairy farms. Tests such as bulk milk bacterial counts, bulk tank somatic cell count and tests for adulterants such as water, sediment or antibiotics are routinely used by regulatory agencies. Other tests such as individual cow somatic cell count values, Staphylococcus aureus milk antibody tests, the California Mastitis...