Sanitary aspects of the herd and milk quality in family farming properties in the Western Amazon

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze 100 dairy farms under family farming regime from the mesoregion of the Acre Valley in the Western Amazon, regarding the sanitary and milk quality aspects, considering different levels of milk yield. The data were collected from March to June 2016, from a semi-structured form, containing 301 questions, through on-site observation, as well as the answers obtained with the owners; and recorded in SPSS® spreadsheets. The descriptive statistics was adopted and, with the aid of the cluster analysis methodology, the cowmen were divided into two clusters with different characteristics in terms of productivity (higher and lower). Some relevant differences among the properties were identified: those belonging to the higher productivity cluster had higher family income and showed greater use of technologies, such as expansion tank and milking machine. In addition, they showed higher vaccination rates against clostridial diseases and rabies. Regarding milk quality, there was higher pre-dipping indices. Milk analyses (somatic cell count, total bacteria count, temperature, protein, fat, bacterial inhibitors, reductase and milk solids-not-fat) were performed on any property. It was concluded that actions are needed to improve productivity and aspects related to milk quality.