Investigation of udder health and milk quality parameters of dairy farms in Northern Cyprus. Part II: Milk quality

The purpose of this study was to determine milk quality status of dairy farms in Northern Cyprus. For this purpose, total bacteria and coliform counts in milk samples taken from all 138 dairy farms were counted, and samples were evaluated in terms of dry matter, fat, total protein, casein, lactose, free fatty acids, fat-free dry matter, acidity-SH, density, freezing point, citric acid and antibiotic residues, once a month during a year. It was determined that annual median values of 71% of the dairy farms, and the total bacteria count (TBC) median value of 47% of the samples was 100.000 cfu/ml; and that the annual median value was 227.738 cfu/ml. Coliform count was >100 cfu/ml in 71.5% of the samples. Antibiotic residues were detected in 2.6% of the samples. Milk composition analysis showed that dry matter, fat, total protein, casein, lactose, free fatty acids, fat-free dry matter, acidity-SH, density, freezing point, citric acid rates were 12.03%; 3.30%; 3.49%; 2.62%; 4.56%; 1.13%; 8.75%; 6.56 SH; 1.031,50 g; -0.542˚H and 0.131%, respectively. In conclusion, results of the study showed that 1) annual average of TBC was high, 2) Coliform count was high in every season (especially summer), 3) Milk composition had seasonal changes.