Consumers are increasingly concerned about the safety of their food and uncertain about food production practices. Potential threats to human health related to dairy products and dairy farming include errors in pasteurization, consumption of raw milk products, contamination of milk products by emerging heat-resistant pathogens, emergence of antimicrobial resistance in zoonotic pathogens, chemic...

A survey of 715 Holstein dairy farms in Pennsylvania was used to construct demographics for the average Holstein dairy farm. The average Holstein dairy farm was composed of 69 lactating cows; 11 nonlactating, pregnant cows; 44 heifers; and 18 calves. Milk production averaged 27.3 kg (60.0 lb). Crop area averaged 73.6 ha. Milk production, crop area and type, average county yields, and herd anima...

A total of 16 organic dairy farms were surveyed for 12 months and data were collected on prevention and treatment of clinical cases of mastitis. Comparative data from seven matched conventional farms were also collected. Organic regulations prevent organic dairy farmers from using antibiotic dry cow therapy, and milk withdrawal periods after antibiotic therapy during lactation are prolonged und...

Antimicrobial resistant (AMR) bacteria are increasing threats for human and veterinary medicine. Faecal Escherichia coli (E. coli) from preweaned dairy calves is often resistant to multiple antimicrobials and calves may therefore serve as reservoirs for these bacteria and their resistance genes. This thesis investigated the prevalence, risk factors, and spread of resistant E. coli on Swedish da...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to estimate the seroprevalence of Coxiella burnetii in dairy goat farms in the Netherlands and to identify risk factors for farm and goat seropositivity before mandatory vaccination started. We approached 334 eligible farms with more than 100 goats for serum sampling and a farm questionnaire. Per farm, median 21 goats were sampled. A farm was considered posi...

Temporal changes in the distribution of Salmonella subtypes in livestock populations may have important impacts on human health. The first objective of this research was to determine the within-farm changes in the population of subtypes of Salmonella on Michigan dairy farms that were sampled longitudinally in 2000-2001 and again in 2009. The second objective was to determine the yearly frequenc...

Since the steady rise in human cases which started in 2007, Q fever has become a major public health problem in the Netherlands with 2,357 human cases notified in the year 2009. Ongoing research confirms that abortion waves on dairy goat farms are the primary source of infection for humans, primarily affecting people living close (under 5 km) to such a dairy goat farm. To reverse the trend of t...

Anaerobic digestion technology addresses environmental issues of waste disposal and greenhouse gas emission reduction. This paper examines attitudes toward adoption of this conservation technology on dairy farms. To specify an appropriate dependent variable without a large number of adopters, an ordered probit model is constructed. The empirical analysis uses data from a 2006 survey of Pacific ...

Many Michigan farm children are viewed as having suffered a deterioration in health coincident with contamination of dairy cattle by PBBs. Among Wisconsin dairy farm children such a deterioration was a rare event. There is a suggestion that Michigan farm children who had multiple symptoms during the 1973-76 period are getting better. A discrete syndrome of ill health has not been identified amo...

In 1973 and 1974, several thousand Michigan dairy farms were contaminated by polybrominated biphenyls (P.B.B.) as the result of an industrial accident. An unknown quantity of contaminated meat and dairy products entered the food chain before contaminated farms were quarantined. To determine the extent of human exposure, P.B.B. concentrations were measured in human breast milk, which was collect...