Hygienic quality and composition of raw sheep's bulk milk samples on selected Slovak farms during year 2018

At the control of raw ewe's milk (REM) quality is a major microbiological criterion to the total bacterial count (TBC). The aim of our work was to determine the incidence of technologically important species of microorganisms in REM in Slovak Republic. At the monitored 28 ewe´s farms, we took bulk milk samples from evening or morning milking in spring, summer and autumn during year 2018. We analyzed nutrients (fat, protein, lactose and urea) and somatic cell count (SCC). We established technologically important microorganisms (MO) of psychotrophic MO, coliform MO, thermoresistant MO, spore-forming anaerobic MO. We have found a gradual increase in milk components, except for lactose, which is apparently related to the increasing cont of somatic cells during the milking period. We found that the TBC in raw sheep's milk complied an average of 132 x 103 CFU.mL-1 per spring (min 34 x 103 CFU.mL-1, max 501 x 103 CFU.mL-1), 300 x 103 CFU.mL-1 in summer (min. 31 x 103 CFU.mL-1, max 640 x 103 CFU.mL-1) and in autumn with an average value of 147 x 103 CFU.mL-1 (min 52 x 103 CFU.mL-1, max 276 x 103 CFU.mL-1). The enormous occurrence of psychrotrophic bacteria was found in one farm in northern Slovakia during spring and summer, in the summer we increased our number to 3 farms, in the autumn of 2 farms. At the other farms we evaluated the average value of 12 x 103 CFU.mL-1 per spring and 28 x 103 CFU.mL-1 in summer, 130.5 x 103 CFU.mL-1 in the autumn. The count of thermoresistent MO achieved 57 CFU.mL-1 per spring, 15 CFU.mL-1 in summer and 33 CFU.mL-1 in the autumn. The presence of spore-forming anaerobic MO in raw ewe´s milk was found during spring at six farms out of 15, but in the summer at just one in 9, in the autumn two farms.