Association of bedding types with management practices and indicators of milk quality on larger Wisconsin dairy farms

AbstractThe objective of this study was to identify associations of bedding type and selected management practices with bulk milk quality and productivity of larger Wisconsin dairy farms. Dairy herds (n=325) producing ≥11,340kg of milk daily were surveyed during a single farm visit. Monthly bulk milk SCC and total bacteria counts were obtained from milk buyers for 255 farms for a 2-yr period. Of farms with the same type of bedding in all pens during the study period, most used inorganic bedding (IB), followed by organic nonmanure bedding (OB) and manure products (MB). Almost all bulk milk total bacterial counts were