Short communication: Efficacy of glycolic acid-based and iodine-based postmilking barrier teat disinfectants for prevention of new intramammary infections in dairy cattle

A positive-control, natural exposure noninferiority field study was conducted to test the efficacy of a novel glycolic acid-based postmilking barrier teat disinfectant compared with a commercial iodine-based postmilking barrier teat disinfectant (positive control). Cows from 2 pens from a California Central Valley dairy farm were dipped after milking either with the positive-control product (PC) or the experimental product (EX) over 12 wk. New intramammary infections (NIMI) were determined by biweekly sampling of all quarters of study cows and classified as a NIMI based on somatic cell count and milk bacteriological culture results. The mean quarter-level incidence risks during a 2 wk study period were 3.50% (EX) and 4.28% (PC). The majority of NIMI were caused by coagulase-negative staphylococci, followed by non-agalactiae streptococci. The study results indicated that EX was noninferior to PC, with a 17% relative efficacy (improvement) in reducing NIMI compared with the PC group. Also, quarter somatic cell count was not affected by the postmilking teat disinfectant used. Finally, the EX product was safe in terms of teat conditioning: teat condition scores were not different between study groups. The study concluded that the glycolic acid-based experimental post-dip barrier was noninferior to the control, and could be considered a safe and effective postmilking teat disinfectant.