Milk Quality

The value of milk quality testing is becoming clear to Iowa dairy producers and milk quality specialists at ISU VDPAM are available to help troubleshoot milking equipment and cleaning problems.  The ISU VDL Bacteriology Section focuses on rapid testing turnaround and high quality identification including the following milk culturing options:

• Basic milk culture designed to isolate & identify aerobic contagious pathogens (Staph aureus & Strep ag.) and genus identification of environmental organisms. Testing may also include Mycoplasma spp. culture.
• Aerobic culture results available in 48 hours.
• Bulk tank cultures with or without Mycoplasma spp. culture.
• Standard plate count, preliminary incubation, lab pasteurized count, and coliform count testing.
• Bedding & environmental culturing.

Contact Dr. Patrick Gorden, in the Dairy Section of Food Supply Veterinary Medicine (FSVM) 515-294-3096 or Joann Kinyon (515-294-9411) for more information.

Renovated facilities accommodate processing large volumes of samples. Milk quality specialists are available to help you troubleshoot your client’s milking equipment and cleaning problems.

Clients utilizing Dairy Comp 305 can create electronic submission files resulting in increased accuracy and efficiency. When test results are complete, they can be downloaded to a computer to assist with herd management in addition to currently available reports.