Milk bacteriology

Basics and pitfalls

Abstract

Bacteriological culture of milk provides fundamental information to veterinarians, their support staff, and dairy producers who want to improve milk quality on dairy farms. In-clinic or on-farm culture cannot achieve the degree of sophistication of an accredited diagnostic laboratory. Nonetheless, non-diagnostic laboratory culture of milk samples can help identify opportunities in farm management, as well as therapeutic decisions. The fundamentals of milk bacteriology are not difficult, and numerous resources are available to help veterinary personnel establish basic milk bacteriology laboratories. Care should be taken to avoid common pitfalls in interpretation and application of the culture results.