diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index cfe647e8..6b3c4a3b 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 ## Ignore Visual Studio temporary files, build results, and
 ## files generated by popular Visual Studio add-ons.
 
+# VS 2015 dot files
+.vs/
+
 # User-specific files
 *.suo
 *.user
diff --git a/src/NLog.Targets.Syslog/NLog.Targets.Syslog.cs b/src/NLog.Targets.Syslog/NLog.Targets.Syslog.cs
index 80186f3e..a62ce929 100644
--- a/src/NLog.Targets.Syslog/NLog.Targets.Syslog.cs
+++ b/src/NLog.Targets.Syslog/NLog.Targets.Syslog.cs
@@ -52,6 +52,11 @@ public class Syslog : TargetWithLayout
         /// </summary>
         public string Sender { get; set; }
 
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Gets or sets the timestamp format
+        /// </summary>
+        public string TimestampFormat { get; set; }
+
         /// <summary>
         /// Gets or sets the machine name hosting syslog
         /// </summary>
@@ -88,6 +93,7 @@ public Syslog()
             this.Sender = Assembly.GetCallingAssembly().GetName().Name;
             this.Facility = SyslogFacility.Local1;
             this.Protocol = ProtocolType.Udp;
+            this.TimestampFormat = "MMM dd HH:mm:ss ";
             this.MachineName = Dns.GetHostName();
             this.SplitNewlines = true;
         }
@@ -98,11 +104,6 @@ public Syslog()
         /// <param name="logEvent">The NLog.LogEventInfo </param>
         protected override void Write(LogEventInfo logEvent)
         {
-            // Store the current UI culture
-            var currentCulture = Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture;
-            // Set the current Locale to "en-US" for proper date formatting
-            Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = new CultureInfo("en-US");
-
             var formattedMessageLines = this.GetFormattedMessageLines(logEvent);
             var severity = GetSyslogSeverity(logEvent.Level);
             foreach (var formattedMessageLine in formattedMessageLines)
@@ -110,9 +111,6 @@ protected override void Write(LogEventInfo logEvent)
                 var message = this.BuildSyslogMessage(this.Facility, severity, DateTime.Now, this.Sender, formattedMessageLine);
                 SendMessage(this.SyslogServer, this.Port, message, this.Protocol, this.Ssl);
             }
-
-            // Restore the original culture
-            Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = currentCulture;
         }
 
         private IEnumerable<string> GetFormattedMessageLines(LogEventInfo logEvent)
@@ -225,11 +223,11 @@ private byte[] BuildSyslogMessage(SyslogFacility facility, SyslogSeverity priori
             var calculatedPriority = (int)facility * 8 + (int)priority;
             var pri = "<" + calculatedPriority.ToString(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture) + ">";
 
-            var timeToString = time.ToString("MMM dd HH:mm:ss ");
+            var timeToString = time.ToString(this.TimestampFormat, CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("en-US"));
             sender = sender + ": ";
 
             string[] strParams = { pri, timeToString, machine, sender, body, Environment.NewLine };
-            return Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(string.Concat(strParams));
+            return Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(string.Join(string.Empty, strParams));
         }
     }
 }