SummaryMišeikienė, R., J. Rudejevienė & G. Gerulis, 2015. Effect of pre-milking antiseptic treatment on the bacterial contamination of cow teats' skin. Bulg. J. Vet. Med., 18, No 2,[159][160][161][162][163][164][165][166] The primary objective of premilking udder preparation and teats antiseptic is to achieve an acceptable level of decontamination of teat skin. This aids in reducing the spread of microorganisms and incidence of new intramammary infections, and in minimising the number of bacteria. The aim of our studies was to investigate the influence of pre-milking teat antiseptic solutions on total bacterial contamination of teat skin. Three udder antiseptics were applied: Dermisan 0.5% (active ingredientaminopropyl laurylamine), 0.2% solution with active ingredient iodine, and foaming solution of natural compounds (lactic acid+glycerol+allantoin). Cow teats were swabbed before and after application of udder preparations. The total bacterial contamination on cows teat skin was determined employing serial dilutions and plate count method. Microorganisms were identified under uniform conditions on McConkey (for Gram-negative bacteria), Columbia blood agar medium (for staphylococci), containing 5% sheep's blood, Edwards (for streptococci) agars. The statistical analysis of the data was performed using descriptive statistics and independent-sample T test procedures in SPSS 13.0 for Windows. The udder applications with lactic acid and iodine had the highest probability (P<0.05) of reducing total bacterial contamination. The use of udder antiseptics for premilking teats preparation reduced the levels of coliforms, coagulase negative staphylococci and Streptococcus uberis but with exception of iodine, no effect was found on reducing Candida genus yeasts.

The objective of this study was to determine relationship between Lithuanian dairy cow breed productive and reproductive traits. The study was carried out with 586 fully completed lactation cows: 184 Lithuanian Holstein (H), 320 Lithuanian Black and White (LBW) and 82 Lithuanian Red (LR) cows (291 cows in I, 149 in II and 146 in III and older lactations). Cow productivity and reproduction traits were calculated. H cows in I lactation had a lower insemination index compared to the LR, shorter calving interval (P≤0.05) and service period (P≤0.05) than LBW cows. LBW cows produced 1440.46kg more milk (P≤0.05) with less milk fat and protein content (accordingly 0.28 and 0.22 percent) (P≤0.05) compared with the LRd. The service period of LBW older lactation cows was 21.38 days longer and the insemination index was 0.68 times higher compared to the I lactation cows (P<0.05). LR cows of III and older lactations produced 3742kg more milk (P≤0.05) compared with the I lactation. All cows from 131 and more service period days produced 1420kg more milk with 0.51 percent less fat (P≤0.05) and 0.1 percent less protein than cows with the service period from 91 till 110 days (P≤0.05).