New York’s Dairy Industry is made up of producers, processors, and retailers that strive to meet the demands of consumers by producing high quality and safe dairy products. Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and the New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets have teamed up to create an infrastructure that provides dairy producers and their veterinarians with a tool that allows them to monitor for presence of micro-organisms affecting animal health, food safety, and zoonotic pathogens through bulk milk testing, the Bulk Tank Surveillance Project.

Monitoring of herd and public health threats through the use of bulk milk analysis is attractive to dairy producers. Bulk milk samples can give a snapshot of the herd health status on an individual dairy farm, providing information to help optimize animal health and food safety on the farm. Little effort is required on the part of the dairy producer. This program builds on New York’s current cold transport infrastructure, samples are collected and transported by milk haulers. Once samples are collected at a central location, they are transferred to the appropriate laboratory for testing. Producers can access their test results with speed and ease on-line and/or receive them via mail or fax.

Testing options include: animal health pathogens such as BVD virus (bovine viral diarrhea) and Salmonella, detection of mastitis pathogens including but not limited to contagious pathogens such as Streptococcus agalactiae, Staphylococcus aureus, and Mycoplasma, public health/zoonotic pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes, E. coli 0157:H7 and other STECs (Shiga-toxin producing E. coli) , and Campylobacter, and additional aw milk quality parameter testing including: Standard Plate Count, Coliform Count, Lab Pasteurized Count, and Preliminary Incubation Count.

Regular bulk tank testing is beneficial to producers. When a test result comes back positive, the producer can act quickly on this information. An example: Mycoplasma mastitis in a herd can be very costly. Through monthly bulk tank monitoring, a large dairy farm who had purchased in animals had a bulk tank that tested positive for Mycoplasma. The bulk tank culture was repeated weekly one month, each week with positive results. The dairy management team worked with their veterinary clinic and QMPS to take string samples, find the groups that were Mycoplasma positive, and based on their results, identified the positive cows. Monitor the bulk tank continues on a weekly basis.

Through the Bulk Tank Surveillance Project, we can now conveniently schedule NYSCHAP Mastitis Module milk sample collection eliminating the need for sample mailings. The samples will be collected and transported by the farm’s milk hauler as well. The bulk tank samples will be collected every other month for twelve months (6 bulk tank samples). Producers receive standard qualitative, standard bulk tank culture results at a reduced rate of $25.00 per year AND free Mycoplasma testing. NYSCHAP vouchers will automatically be applied against each sample, eliminating the need to keep track of vouchers. After 6 samples have been submitted, the cost for sampling will be at regular price, $13.75 per sample. By participating in NYSCHAP producers save $57 per year.

In addition to its role in promoting animal health and food safety, such an infrastructure will contribute great value to emergency preparedness for New York dairy producers and consumers. Should a foreign animal pathogen or a milk contaminant enter the New York dairy population, monitoring of bulk milk at the farm level may prove to be essential in assuring both the dairy industry and the consumer of the safety of milk and the health status of our dairy animals. Together, the active leadership put forth by producers, cooperatives, milk haulers, and testing laboratories shows commitment to the consumers of New York’s dairy products.

For more information:
Tonya Van Slyke
Quality Milk Production Services
4530 Millennium Drive, Geneseo, NY 14454, phone: 585-243-1780
email: tmv5@cornell.edu
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