Efficacy of a Lactobacillus-Based Teat Spray on Udder Health in Lactating Dairy Cows

Teat disinfection is a common pre- and post-milking mastitis prevention practice that is part of a mastitis control program in dairy herds. Commercially available teat disinfectants are generally chemical-based products. The use of these products has occasionally raised concerns about the risk of chemical residues in milk. An alternative treatment or prevention strategy based on probiotics has the potential to circumvent this risk. Two treatments were compared in a cross-over clinical trial in a single herd: a lactobacillus-based, post-milking teat spray (LACT), and a commercial iodine-based post-milking teat disinfectant product as (positive control, PC). The effect of the two treatments on cow somatic cell counts was quantified using a multivariate mixed-effects linear regression model with cow fitted as a random effect. The odds of teat end scores increasing from a low to a high score tended to be lower (OR = 0.74, 95% CI 0.54–1.01, P = 0.06) for cows receiving LACT treatment. On average, there was also a tendency for a lower somatic cell counts in the LACT treated cows (antilog of coefficient = 0.91, 95% CI 0.80–1.03, P = 0.13) compared with the PC treated cows. The application of the lactobacillus-based product to teats could reduce the rate of teat end scores progression from low to higher scores, and potentially improve teat end sphincter functions and udder health. Further, larger scale validation work is required to support the findings of the current study.