An Assessment Of Organic And Conventional Dairy Production In The United States: Milk Quality And Management
Loading...
No Access Until
Permanent Link(s)
Collections
Other Titles
Authors
Abstract
The work included in this thesis is focused on research regarding the organic dairy community and milk quality. Our research is dedicated to assessing differences and best management practices on organic and conventional dairy farms throughout New York, Wisconsin and Oregon. We concentrated on modeling management associations with regularly used milk quality indicators somatic cell count, standard plate count, coliform count, as well as the presence of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) in bulk tank milk. We also assessed general differences among conventional non-grazing, conventional grazing and organic dairy farms in the study population. Finally, we assessed the presence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus in bulk tank milk of the study population. As a whole, our results indicated that while the organic dairy community faces many unique management challenges and in achieving optimal milk quality, the factors affecting the organic community are much the same as those affecting the conventional community. An interesting point from our research is that farms that tend to use more outside resources and external inputs tend to have better quality. In addition to this finding, conventional farms are more likely to use external resources than organic farms. Finally, we determined that there is a low prevalence of methicillin-resistant coagulase negative Staphylococcus spp. and S. aureus in the bulk tank milk of both organic and conventional dairies in our study population. Overall, we have found that while both organic and conventional dairy farms, while facing their own individual challenges, are not all that different in the US.
Journal / Series
Volume & Issue
Description
Sponsorship
Date Issued
2013-01-28
Publisher
Keywords
Organic Dairy; Management; Milk Quality
Location
Effective Date
Expiration Date
Sector
Employer
Union
Union Local
NAICS
Number of Workers
Committee Chair
Schukken, Ynte Hein
Committee Co-Chair
Committee Member
Altier, Craig
Grohn, Yrjo Tapio
Tikofsky, Linda
Wiedmann, Martin
Grohn, Yrjo Tapio
Tikofsky, Linda
Wiedmann, Martin
Degree Discipline
Veterinary Medicine
Degree Name
Ph. D., Veterinary Medicine
Degree Level
Doctor of Philosophy
Related Version
Related DOI
Related To
Related Part
Based on Related Item
Has Other Format(s)
Part of Related Item
Related To
Related Publication(s)
Link(s) to Related Publication(s)
References
Link(s) to Reference(s)
Previously Published As
Government Document
ISBN
ISMN
ISSN
Other Identifiers
Rights
Rights URI
Types
dissertation or thesis