HYGIENIC PRACTICES DURING MILKING AND BACTERIOLOGICAL QUALITY OF THE MILK IN RAW BOVINE BULK MILK IN THE SELECTED MILK COLLECTION CENTERS: SMALLHOLDER DAIRY PROCESSING ETHIOPIA.

General Abstract A cross-sectional study was conducted with a total of 201 member farmers in Arsi Zone and East Shewa Zone, in Oromia, Ethiopia. The purpose of the study was to a assess hygienic practices during milking, milk collection and bacteriological quality of the milk of raw bovine bulk milk in Arsi and East Shewa Zones milk collection centers; the study targeted smallholder dairy processing activities. In Arsi Zones majority of the household heads were male while in East Shewa Zone female were the majority. Main feed used by the respondents was mineral block, oilseed cake, and barn, followed by hay, crop residue, bran, local brewer’s yeast and stover\straw and some feed were roughage and/or concentrates. Indoor feeding was common while some used only grazing system. Regarding watering, majority of the respondents, in most cases, used tap water but used river water on rare cases. The average age at first calving in Digeluna Tiyo district is 38.33 months relatively longer than 25.95 months in Tiyo district. The longest calving interval 17.17 months was recorded in Lemuna Bilbilo district, while the shortest was in Tiyo district 14.10 months. The average milk production for local dairy cattle in Tiyo district is 1.45 liters/day, which is less compared to 2.55 liters/day in Lemuna Bilbilo district. The average milk production for crossbred dairy cattle ranged from 5.07 liters/day in Digeluna Tiyo district whereas it was 11.73 liters/day in Tiyo district. Predominantly women do milking. Most of the respondents practiced milking their local and crossed cows twice per day (early in the morning and late in the afternoon) respectively. All the respondents stated that they wash their hands but most respondents wash udder of the cow also before milking. Some of the respondents indicated that they use towel for cleaning the teats before milking the cows. Large proportion of respondents uses plastic as milk container followed by metal and traditional pots. A total of 106 samples of milk were collected to assess bacteriological quality of bulk raw milk. Total of 246 bacterial isolates were obtained from milk samples taken. These included Escherichia coli 19.8%, Listeria monocytogenes 1.2%, Staphylococcus aureus 3.2%and Brucella3.3%. Based on the bacterial isolates found a total of 100 samples of milk were collected to analyzeMethicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Escherichia coli O157 serotype. Among the total milk samples analyzed for each pathogen, 50.5% were Staphylococcus of which Staphylococcus aureus were (5.05%), and (47.5%) Escherichia coli were also analyzed from the (49.5%) Enterobacteriaceae isolated. Out of the Staphylococcus aureus recovered, all the isolates were sensitive to Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) test and 27.8% of the recovered Escherichia coli were positive for E coli O157 serotype.