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Production of quality milk
By
Dr Rao Zahid Abbas & Dr Zafar Iqbal
 The
production of quality milk is an important part of any dairy
operation. It increases farmer's profitability and has many
benefits. Research has found the importance of lowering the
somatic cell count (SCC) in a herd. Each time the SCC is cut
into half, the average production increases by 0.6 kg milk
per cow per day. Thus, lowering a herd’s SCC from 400,000 to
100,000, increases milk production of the herd by 1.3 kg per
cow per day.
Dairy industry's demand for quality milk has made it easier
to get dairy farmers involved. Most dairy plants are now
offering cash premiums for lower SCC milk. The farmers not
only get more milk, but a higher price as well for better
quality milk.
Quality milk can be obtained approached by looking at the
"Mastitis Triangle." It includes looking at the total
picture such as cows and their environment, the man and his
milking procedures, and the milking equipment and its
function. This can help improve milk quality.
To solve a problem, one must find the cause behind it.. If
one doesn't look at the total triangle and something is
overlooked the problem cannot be solved completely. When
investigating a mastitis situation, one should be sure to
look at more than the SCC. A check of the amount of clinical
mastitis in the herd, the milk out times, and production of
the herd is a must. Many herds have artificially low SCC
because the bad cows are not going into the tank.
Milking procedures: One of the most challenging parts of
quality milk production is fine tuning of the dairy farmers’
milking procedures. Milking procedures are usually
responsible for mastitis in the herd. A milk time evaluation
is essential to help the dairy farmers to fine tune milking
practices. Many farmers are taking all necessary steps, but
not in proper order to get the maximum benefit. Once the
farmer implements proper milking habits, there is a
significant improvement in milk quality.
Milking habits: These practices include getting the teat
cleaned, dried, and properly stimulated before milking. The
routine that has been found to be the most effective in
producing quality milk is as follows.
The first step is to fore-strip each teat three times.
Fore-stripping is critical to the production of quality milk
and fast milking times. Recent research shows that stripping
the teats can yield five to seven per cent more milk. Not
only there is an increase in milk yield, but also faster
milking. The dairy farmers are also likely to identify
abnormal milk. Fore-stripping sends the strongest signal to
cow's brain to let down her milk. Proper stimulation really
pays.
After fore-stripping, proper sanitisation of the teat
surface is a must. This can be done by washing the teats
with water by an udder wash or pre-dipping. It has been
found that pre-dipping is better than any other approach.
Water is the biggest enemy of farmer. Bacteria cannot walk,
but it can swim. Whenever water is used, there is a definite
chance for increased environmental mastitis.
Pre-dipping is an effective step in mastitis control. Dairy
farmer must always select an approved product to pre-dip
with. In order to get the biggest impact from pre-dipping,
two things must take care of. The pre-dip must cover 75 pr
cent of the teat surface and it must stay on the teat for a
minimum of 20 to 30 seconds. To get full benefit from
pre-dipping, these two rules have to be followed. The new
step which is strongly supported is the use of milking
gloves. Research has shown significant decrease in bacteria
numbers when gloves are worn. By wearing gloves, the milking
practices are just fine tuned with chances of producing
quality milk increased.
Drying the teats with individual paper or cloth towels is
the most important step. Drying does more to lower SCC and
reduce clinical mastitis than the other steps. The teat and
teat end must be wiped clean and dry. The drying towel
removes most bacteria from the teat. Once the teat has been
dried, it should not be touched with hands again.
Timing is very important to milking speed and milk yield.
Ideally, the units should be attached to the teats 45 to 90
seconds after stripping. If the timing is delayed, there
would be longer milking times and less milk yield. Many
farms have inadequate timing which creates over milking
before milk let down. Often times parlour farms set their
automation on manual until let down occur. This is not
acceptable and the solution is better timing. In parlours,
usually farmers work in groups of three or four cows. This
helps optimise timing and maximise output.
The unit must be attached to the teat with as little air
admission as possible. Letting in too much air is very
irritating for the teats and will increase the level of
environmental mastitis. Once the unit is attached, a few
seconds should be taken to properly align the unit on each
cow so that the cow is milked rapidly and completely with
minimum liner slip. Good unit alignment is important in both
stanchion barns and parlours.
Once the unit is removed by shutting off the vacuum, the
teats must be immediately dipped with teat dip. Teat dipping
is still one of the most important steps. The key is that
the farmer is using a quality teat dip with research data
showing efficacy. Coverage is the most important part of
teat dipping. A minimum of 75 per cent of the teat must be
covered with dip. The primary reason for teat dipping is to
replace milk film with a layer of germicide after milking.
If the milk film is not removed, the left food on the teats
will grow more bacteria. It is also important to start each
milking with a clean teat dipper containing fresh dip. The
teats must be adequately covered with dip to prevent
mastitis.
Environment: Looking at the cow and the environment around
is most often forgotten. The environment is probably second
in importance only to milking procedures. It is needed to
look at where the cow is being milked, where she is housed,
and how she gets back and forth between these areas. Many
mastitis problems come from the environment. Keeping the
cows clean, dry, and comfortable 24 hours a day is a key
factor in mastitis control.
Housing must be kept clean and dry 24 hours. The lanes to
and from the pastures or dry lots must be free of mud holes
which cause many coliform problems. Managing coliform
problems will stop other problems. Ventilation is critical.
Winter is not a problem for dairy farmers, rather
controlling environment during the heat of summer is
difficult.
Keeping cows udders clean can really reduce the level of
clinical mastitis and improve milk quality. Removing udder
hair and trimming or docking tails help to keep udders clean
and thus lead to improved milk quality.
Docking tails keeps the cows and facilities clean. Clipping
udders is probably one of the most important steps in
producing quality milk. It is a forgotten step in mastitis
control. The problem is that no one likes clipping udders.
It takes a great deal of time and the cows usually object to
the procedure. The farmers now flame the udders three to
four times a year rather than not doing it at all.
Milking equipment: Milking equipment is the most used and
most abused equipment on any dairy farm. Veterinarians must
at least understand the basic functioning of milking
equipment.
The milk system must be looked at from not only a mastitis
stand point, but also a performance stand point. Milking
equipment has more effect on production than it does on
mastitis. A very large percentage of milking equipment used
does have a negative effect on production. Many herds see
dramatic increases in production when milking systems are
upgraded as well as a decrease in milking time. It is found
that the longer it takes to milk a cow, the less milk is
obtained. The shorter the machine time, the less chance for
infection too.
The milking system needs to be properly evaluated on a
regular basis. The only correct way to test a milking
machine is at milking time so the cows can be tested under
full load. This dynamic testing allows you to find problems
that cannot be discovered any other way. Having a good
independent person test, the milking equipment is often
best. The milking machine is the most important machine on
the farm and should be kept well maintained and fine tuned.
Bulk tank culturing is an excellent way to monitor a herd on
a routine basis. Bulk tank culturing gives a way to look at
a bacterial survey of the whole herd quickly and
economically and is an important part of a total farm visit.
This often provides convincing support for the observations
and recommendations made.
Getting involved in quality milk production is easy. All
that is needed is a commitment to get involved. An attitude
for quality is an attitude for profit.
Courtesy:
The DAWN |
Pakissan.com;
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