How effective is teat
disinfection?
During milking,
bacteria from an infected cow may be found on the teatcup liners and transferred
to the teat skin of the next 5-6 cows that are milked with that unit.
Once on the
teat skin, they multiply (especially where there are sores or other lesions on
the teat skin), and so increase the risk of the quarter becoming infected via
the teat canal.
Post-milking
teat disinfection aims to:
- maintain
healthy skin; and
- reduce the
number of bacteria on the areas of teat skin that have come into contact with
the teatcup liner during milking and able to gain access to the teat orifice
Many field
experiments have shown that effective post-milking teat disinfection lowers new
infection rates of the cow-associated mastitis bacteria by 50% or more, and
recent work, especially in New Zealand, has demonstrated a similar reduction in
new infection rates with the environmental bacteria
Strep uberis which
is now so common in Australia.
There is no
benefit from disinfecting any part of the udder surface apart from the teat
skin. It is, however, important that the entire teat barrel (everywhere the
liner has touched) is disinfected and not just the teat end.
All the
benefits of correct product selection, preparation and handling are lost if the
teat disinfectant does not reach the teat skin, and the teat disinfectant cannot
have any effect on areas of skin that it does not contact.
Routine
post-milking teat disinfection has been, and still is, the single most effective
component of hygienic milking programs used in Australia.
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