Campylobacter jejuni in dairy cows and raw milk

Twelve herds of dairy cows were examined by rectal swabbing for the presence of Campylobacter jejuni. Ten herds were positive with the incidence of colonized animals ranging from 10 to 72% of those tested. With the exception of the two negative herds where mains water only was consumed, all animals drank from rivers or streams when grazing. There was no relationship between total and coliform counts and the presence of C. jejuni in raw milk. However, milk from one farm that consistently gave positive results had significantly higher Escherichia coli counts than other samples.