By Tessa Kelly, Lab Manager, The Dairy Authority
Accurate and actionable results that you can use to make informed decisions. That’s the goal behind every test offered at The Dairy Authority Lab.
Culturing milk samples to manage mastitis may have been where we started, but the lab now offers a full range of testing services to help you understand the microbial profile of your milk and manage your cows for optimal health and performance. Testing capabilities for milk samples range from bacterial culture and milk quality to pregnancy and health screenings. We use state-of-the-art technology, including PCR, to deliver accurate results fast.
The beauty of testing milk is that it is regularly and completely accessible, causes no disruption to the cows, requires very little labor to sample, and can tell us a lot about what is going on in your herd. And because we offer a vast array of testing services on milk samples, producers can ship all of their milk samples to one location, receive all of their test results in one report, and depending on what herd management program they use producers can opt to have results directly uploaded into their herd management program.
Testing capabilities at the TDA Milk Lab include:
- Milk cultures. Milk samples can be cultured to detect all types of environmental and contagious pathogens such as Mycoplasma, Staph. aureus, Strep agalactiae or any other mastitis-causing bacteria in milk.
- PCR. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is a rapid and accurate test that can detect small pieces of DNA, detecting disease sometimes even before clinical signs appear. PCR results are available in hours as opposed to days for milk cultures.
- Bulk tank or group testing. We can test commingled milk from the bulk tank, or string samples from a group or pen of cows. This type of routine surveillance is helpful in “playing offense” to detect harmful organisms like Mycoplasma and – more recently – bird flu.
- Milk quality. We offer a variety of quality tests for milk including standard plate count (SPC), coliform count (CC), laboratory pasteurization count (LPC), somatic cell count (SCC), and preliminary incubation (PI) count. Monitoring these factors helps assess the effectiveness of milking protocols, bedding, and herd hygiene, with a goal of capturing higher production and milk quality premiums.
- Antibiotic screening. We use a variety of tests to detect if any antibiotic residues are present. Our tests can detect flunixins, beta-lactams, tetracyclines, and sulfa in milk and urine samples from animals treated with those medications, to help ensure your farm does not incur a violative drug residue infraction.
- Pregnancy testing. Milk samples collected at least 28 days since last heat or later can be used to determine if cows are pregnant.
- Diagnostic testing. Milk samples can used to determine beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHBA), milk urea nitrogen (MUN), and fatty acids (FA). MUN and FA values can be used to help manage your cows’ nutrition for optimal health and BHBA to detect subclinical ketosis.
- DHIA Field & Lab Services. The TDA Lab offers the full suite of Dairy Herd Improvement Association (DHIA) Lab Services which can be tailored to meet an individual dairy’s needs. Milk sample testing can include SCC, fat and protein content, MUN, lactose, total solids, BHBA, and FA analysis.
Samples can be shipped overnight or two-day. When shipping, make sure samples are securely packed and kept cold or frozen depending on the test you would like to have completed. The TDA Lab also has a courier who picks up samples on-farm each day Monday thru Friday. We have regularly scheduled routes through northern Colorado and western Kansas.
To learn more about milk testing and all of our lab capabilities, contact the TDA Lab at info@dairymd.com
