LANGHILL MILK PRODUCTION Flashcards
What is the system Langhill farm for milking parlour?
What is the benefit of this type of parlour?
28:28 Herringbone parlour;
w/ large bore pipeline & milk flow meters
Benefit: gives milker easy access to the udders at a good working level
How does Langhill ensure the Bactoscan of the milk is as low as possible?
- The milk is immediately pre-cooled through a heat exchange unit before entering the refrigerated bulk tank, to be cooled the last few degrees to 4 degree Celsius
What are the purposes of fore-milking strips?
- To identify clinical mastitis
- Clears out teat canal (possibly reduces bactoscan)
- Stimulate milk let-down
What is the purpose of keeping cows standing for 20 mins after milking?
To allow teat canals to close
Describe the Langhill milking routine.
- 14 cows enter one side of the parlour
- Cows are automatically identified by electronic collars, (as they pass through a blue archway which contains a receiver that identifies each cow) which then activate the pre-determined amount of dairy concentrate to be dispensed into each feed trough
- Foremilk strip
- Clean teats w/ a handheld rotating brush
- Attach cluster
- Cluster removed
- Post-milking teat disinfection
- Stand cows for 20 mins
What is the function of a dump bucket?
Collect milk which must not enter the bulk milk tank
- usually either colostrum or milk containing antibiotics
What are the criteria to ensure the farm does not fail the antibiotic test?
- Cows being treated w/ antibiotics must be clearly identified (tail / leg tapes, computer Id, marker sprays)
- Accurate records must be kept
- Withholding times adhered to
- Good staff communication
- Mastitic milk should not be fed to calves
What happens if the temperature of the milk is above 7C?
The milk flow meter will stop automatically and the milk will not be uplifted until it has been cooled properly to 4C.
It is the responsibility of the tank driver to take a milk sample from the bulk tank at each collection. How many of these daily samples are tested each month?
4 samples
What are tested in the 4 daily samples?
- Butterfat %
- Protein %
- Bactoscan
- Somatic cell count
- Antibiotics
- Extraneous water
List the criteria for the items tested in the milk samples.
Butterfat%: Standard 4% (min acceptable 3.5%)
Protein%: Standard 3.3% (min acceptable 2.9%)
Bactoscan: Premium paid if below 30000/ml (penalties if >50000)
Somatic cell count: Premium paid below 200000 cells/ml (penalties if >250000/ml)
Antibiotics: Financial penalties if detected
Extraneous water: detected by freezing point depression
How is the milk price of each month calculated?
The average of 4 weekly samples for butterfat% and protein% is calculated, which determines the basic milk price, then financial premiums or penalties for Bactoscan and somatic cell count are applied.
How does the somatic cell count (SCC) indicate milk quality?
- The majority of the somatic cells are leukocytes (WBC), which become present in increasing numbers in milk usually as an immune response to a mastitis-causing pathogen
- A small number of epithelial cells, which are milk-producing cells shed from inside of the udder when an infection occurs
What does each of the following SCC indicate:
SCC of 100,000 or less = indicates an uninfected cow, where there are no significant production losses due to sub-clinical mastitis
SCC of 200,000 = threshold value, determines whether a cow is infected with mastitis;
SCC of >200,000 = highly likely to be infected on at least 1/4
SCC of 300,000 or greater = cows infected with significant pathogens
What is the trend in changes for SCC in milk.
SCC in milk increases after calving when colostrum is produced before the cow settles into lactation, and tend to rise towards the end of lactation, most likely due to the concentrating effect of lower amounts of milk being produced
What is the SCC deemed unfit for human consumption by the European Union?
> 400,000
What does low SCC indicate?
- Could be a sign of poor immune response but not necessarily true
- Could be simply a low level of current infection
- Immune response is best measured by how quickly the immune system reacts to the disease challenge , not how many WBC are present before infection occurs
What does bactoscan indicate?
The level of bacterial contamination from external sources e.g. insufficient cleaning of the milking equipment / poor udder and teat preparation prior to milking, and can indicate a high level of environmental pathogens
How does the California Mastitis Test work?
- Estimate the SCC of milk
- Gives immediate result
- Not numerical but an indication of whether the cell count is high or low
- Only show changes above 300,000 cells/ml
- Advantage over individual cow counts: assesses the level of infection of each quarter rather than an overall udder result
Steps to carry out the California Mastitis Test
- Discard the foremilk
- Draw a few squirts of milk from each quarter into the paddle
- Tip the paddle so that most of the milk is discarded (ensure each quarter has even volume of milk)
- Swirl the mixture using a circular motion and examine for the presence of a gel or slime reaction
- Record the result by quarter
- Rinse out the paddle before testing the next cow
How do you score on the California Mastitis Test ?
A negative result is seen when the milk remains watery; a score of 3 (highest) is when the solution almost solidifies.
0 - None gelling effect
1 - Mild gelling effect
2 - Moderate gelling effect
3 - Heavy gelling effect
What are the uses of CMT?
- Identification of high cell count cows and quarters
- Double checking individual cell count results
- Checking a cow you suspect may have mastitis
- Checking cell counts after mastitis
- Identifying quarters for bacteriology sampling to identify mastitis bacteria responsible for high cell counts
Give examples of factors which can affect Bulk tank Milk Quality results.
- Milk from a cow with clinical mastitis entering the bulk tank can significantly increase both the Bactoscan result and the Somatic Cell Count
- Milk from a cow being treated with antibiotics will cause a Fail in the Antibiotic test
- Problems with circulation cleaning of the milking equipment (water temperature not high enough, not sufficient water or wrong concentration of detergent steriliser) usually causes a gradual increase in Bactoscan result as the cleanliness of the internal surfaces deteriorates
- If the milking cooling system fails there is likely to be a significant and sudden increase in Bactoscan result
- An increase in Somatic Cell Count usually indicates a “cow” health problems whereas an increase in only the Bactoscan result usually indicates a hygiene / equipment type problem
Describe the functions of the main components of the milk machine
Vacuum pump - Continuously draws air out of the system to create and maintain a vacuum (driven by electric motor)
Vacuum regulator/controller - Automatic valve to maintain a steady vacuum despite varying levels of air leakage into the system
Sanitary trap - Separates milk and air systems and intercepts liquids to prevent flooding the vacuum pump
Receiver vessel (large stainless steel container) - collects milk from the pipeline and feeds it to the milk pump
Interceptor vessel - This intercepts stray liquid (water/milk) to protect the vacuum pump from flooding; sits on top of the receiving vessel
Milk pump - Pumps milk from the receiver vessel to bulk tank
Vacuum Gauge - indicates the level of working vacuum in the system (must be sited in the parlour and be easily visible to the milker)
Cluster - clawpiece, shells, liners, pulse tubes and milk tubes
Milk meter - measures volume of milk passing through it
Keypad - For cow identification and display of milk yields and hazard warnings
Automatic Cluster Remover (ACR) - removes milking cluster from udder when milk flow sensor detects cessation of milk flow (drops below 0.2kg/min)
Pulsators - Operates the opening and closing pulse of the liners
Jetters - Connections to the wash circuit
Milk filter - Removes any extraneous matter from the milk as it leaves the pump
Plate cooler - heat exchange unit to pre-cool the milk
Bulk tank - refrigerated tank for cooling and storing the milk
Tank washer - automatic programmed wash sequence for sterilising bulk tank
