The quality of goat milk and hygiene management practices on farms in Vojvodina.

The present work aimed to study the goat farms concerning different hygiene-sanitary and health management practice. Also, bulk tank milk of Alpine breed goats was used to investigate changes in the composition of milk during lactation on six farms in Vojvodina Region. The results showed that although 96.67% of farmers were familiar with mastitis, approximately 56.67% of farmers reported a lack of knowledge about subclinical mastitis and therefore not intensely monitoring udder health during the lactation period. Somatic cell count (SCC) and total bacteria count (TBC) were the most variable traits in our research and lactation average SCC between investigated farms showed a significant difference (P < 0.01) (a range from 1088×10?/ml to 3129×10?/ml). At the same time, TBC was found in a wider range, from 66×10?/ml to 3508×10?/ml. Furthermore, SCC and TBC often did not meet the recommended quality level. Therefore, during the entire lactation period, 63% of the milk samples contained above 1.5 million SCC/ml and 37% of the samples were contained TBC above 1.5 million CFU/ml. Results also confirmed considerable seasonal variations of goat milk composition and the milk fat was the component that most varied (cv: 33.16%). It was observed that organic in comparison to conventional milk chemical composition, was significantly different, especially in terms of protein content (P < 0.0001). In conclusion, goat dairy production could be of considerable importance in Vojvodina but dairy goat sector requires a more systemic approach, better hygiene milking conditions and implemented prevention and control programmes during the milking routine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]