Cross-sectional study finds that manure cleaning frequency significantly reduces udder contamination rates in dairy cattle, indicating the importance of barn sanitation.
Key Points
To quantitatively evaluate the impact of manure cleaning scraper systems, stall materials, and daily cleaning frequency on udder hygiene scores and barn cleanliness.
Assessed 10 large dairy farms in Konya, Türkiye, utilizing chain, steel rope, or hydraulic manure scrapers.
Scored udder hygiene on a 1–4 visual scale and quantified contamination percentages using digital image processing.
Measured barn odor before and after cleaning, analyzing hygiene differences using one-way ANOVA and correlation analysis.
Animal udder contamination rates ranged between 4.45% and 13.8% across the evaluated dairy farms.
Daily manure cleaning frequency had a statistically significant effect on udder dirt contamination rates (P < 0.05).