I have agreed to write an article on raw milk as part of a series of chapters in a new book produced by Elsevier that will be published in 2020.  I will cover the antimicrobial factors and other topics including the presence of probiotic bacteria in modern hygienically-produced milk. The safety of raw milk for human consumption, particularly for children, will also be included.

One of the points I want to make is how easy it is for milk to become contaminated and how difficult it is to prevent some forms of contamination. I am trying to source photographs showing dirty 'drinkers', birds and rodents in/on cattle feed e.g. Total Meal Replacement (TMR), dirty udders, dirty cows. 

Below are some of the images that I have found/ obtained or been given so far.

The photograph below shows starlings (a major pest and potential carrier of many human pathogens) eating components in the TMR fed to dairy cows. Farms are not operating theatres and farmers live in the real world. Hence we need to use all the options at our disposal to reduce risk e.g. pasteurisation.

Starling eating TMR

 Image from: Anon. (2013) Practical Control Strategies for Starling Infestations. Report prepared for DairyCo by Kingshay. Download url:https://dairy.ahdb.org.uk/non_umbraco/download.aspx?media=16123 .

 

A further picture clearly showing the nuisance value of starlings in a dairy farm in the US.

Donated by Provided by Professor Amber Adams Progar, Department of Animal Sciences, Washington State University

Image kindly provided by Professor Amber Adams Progar, Department of Animal Sciences, Washington State University.

 Boetech (2019) has claimed that "half of the cows (in Europe) are drinking dirt and shit" I am trying to get some images of cow faeces in drinkers.

Below is a typical picture of crows perching on a water trough in a field.  Bird faeces in outside water troughs is not uncommon and are an obvious source of E.coli and other pathogens.  

Crows perched on drinking trough

Picture courtesy of Aidan Brennan Irish Farmers Journal  

If you have similar photographs please contact me.