ISHS Acta Horticulturae 674: III International Symposium on Applications of Modelling as an Innovative Technology in the Agri-Food Chain; MODEL-IT
IMPROVING FARM MANAGEMENT BY MODELLING TEAT CLEANING APPLIED TO THE REDUCE CONTAMINATION OF RAW MILK WITH BACTERIAL SPORES |
| Authors: | M.M.M. Vissers, M. Magnusson, A. Christiansson, M.C. te Giffel, J.M.G. Lankveld |
| Keywords: | Butyric Acid Bacteria, Bacillus cereus, Milking practices, Monte-Carlo |
| Abstract:
Modelling is a useful tool to assist farmers in taking efficient control measures to reduce the contamination of raw milk with bacterial spores. One of the measures that can be applied is cleaning of the udder, and particularly the teats prior to milking. In practice various cleaning strategies can be applied. To evaluate different cleaning strategies a mathematical model was developed describing teat cleaning and milking practices. The model divides a herd in three groups of cows with different contamination levels of the udder teats and facilitates the application of different cleaning methods to each group of cows. In total, 19 cleaning strategies were evaluated using Monte Carlo simulations. The model simulations showed that it is most effective to apply time consuming methods only to cows with visible dirt attached to the udder teats. But it is not essential to clean the teats of cows with no visible contamination when the only objective is to reduce to the contamination of raw milk with bacterial spores. | |
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