Farm-management and milking practices associated with the presence of Listeria monocytogenes in New York state dairy herds

Abstract

Knowledge of the relationship between dairy herd management and milking practices with the occurrence of Listeria monocytogenes on dairy farms might assist in the development of intervention strategies aimed at eliminating this organism at the pre-harvest dairy-food-production level. This paper represents a first step towards that goal. We carried out a cross-sectional study to identify farm factors that were associated with isolation of L. monocytogenes from on-farm in-line milk-filters. Data on these factors were collected by personal interview of the farm owners or managers. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the significance of association of each factor while simultaneously controlling for the presence of other factors. A systematic approach was developed in which the bivariable association of the hypothesized factors initially was evaluated. All significant factors were then jointly evaluated in a multivariable logistic model. Farms that used a bucket system had significantly higher odds of L. monocytogenes as compared to farms that used a round-the-barn pipeline milking system (OR=0.35, P=0.05) or milking parlor (OR=0.21, P=0.01). There was a significant association between pre-milking teat disinfection (OR=0.26, P=0.001) and pre-milking examination of abnormal appearance of milk (OR=0.4, P=0.01) against the occurrence of L. monocytogenes. We also found a significant association between the use of E. coli J5 vaccine (OR=3.3, P=0.03) and how long dry-cow therapy had been used on farm (OR=0.34, P=0.04).