Unfortunately, in most of cases the milking process, milk stock and transportation are done very carelessly. Especially milking process, it is seen like an ordinary farm job and actually most of milking operators are unknowledgeable. Whereas, the future, economy and the health of your cows depends on milking hygiene. Milking operators must be trained and inspected, starting with washing hands, how to treat cows, what to carefully do in which phase and where to use which disinfectant.
What we see mostly is, these staff had never be taught about these subjects. Otherwise, mastitis will be out of control in the herd, very expensive milking machines will be broken and unfortunately company will dissatisfy the owner.
Please especially pay attention to milkers training and inspection.
PRELIMINARY INFORMATION
Today, due to increasing environmental problems and increased bacterial and viral diseases, food safety measures to protect animal health have become indispensable.
Healthy animal food can only be obtained from healthy animals, and the protection of the health of animals depends on healthy environmental conditions and proper hygiene and disinfection sanitation precautions.
The European Union emphasizes its importance; The term ‘food safety from the farm to the table’ is defined as a set of measures taken to eliminate physical, chemical, biological and all kinds of harm that may be present in the food.
Among the most important of animal foods, milk is an important nutrient containing more than 40 defined nutrients including high protein, fat, and carbohydrates. Because of that milk is a sensitive product and susceptible to harmful bacteria.
The quality of milk is determined by the dry matter content, fat content and number of somatic cells (body cell and bacterial presence). Low somatic cells in milk mean clean milk. Milk products from this kind of milk will be with more quality and will have longer shelf life.
It should be well known that the high number of somatic cells is not only a problem of the dairy industry, but a problem that closely concerns the milk producer.
The high number of somatic cells actually shows that the animal’s breast tissue was attacked by the microbes. Abnormal elevation of the number of somatic cells and presence of bacteria indicate the presence of mastitis, especially subclinical mastitis, which is not noticed from outside but causes serious loss of efficiency.
If your somatic cell count is low (below 100,000) then you are assured of your cows, mastitis is absent, and your milk is clean. If the somatic cell is high, a secret mastitis case lowers the efficiency of the milk and you are confronted with the danger of spreading of an infectious disease.
The vast majority of cases of mastitis occur as a result of the microbe invading the breast tissue through the nipple hole. Sometimes this happens during the dry-off, it sometimes occurs immediately after milking, sometimes before birth, sometimes during lactation, but it absolutely happens when there is no breast care or cleaning of milking equipment.
Breeding microflora in milk residues that accumulate in poorly cleaned milking heads causes mastitis during milking. Mastitis is an expensive, troublesome, and difficult disease.
Let’s not forget that about 30% of the cows that get disposed are due to mastitis.
Three basic rules need to be followed during milking;
– the stimulation of the breast to prepare the cow for milking
– Control of the breast and hygiene
– Cleaning and disinfection of the nipple and the milking machine
1- Before milking: Milking operator; must wet his/her hands with water first, then fully foam with creamy hand soap and during 10 secs rub the nails and between fingers including top of hands. Then rinse with plenty of water and dry. Disinfect the boots and apron with Dezol 151.
Order of milking must be arranged: Regardless of housing system or herd size, milk first calf heifers, fresh cows and then the main herd. In the end milk sick cows and wash and sanitize the milking system.
Mastisis Check: Make sure the milking equipments are ready and clean. Prepare Aktifoam teat cleaning foam, moist and dry towels to be used at milking.
Dip each teat in Aktifoam to make sure teats are clean, moist and clean because they are very vulnerable to microbes.
After dipping them in foam, dry the teats with dry towel or napkin. Wet teats cause dislocation, slip or squeeze the milking clusters during milking process.
Foremilk Cows: Allows to control of milk and udder.
You must prepare a Milking protocol that all milking operators can easily understand.
2- During Milking: Check Milking System: Always check the vacuum level at the beginning of each milking.
There should not be any leaks. Prevent any stress during milking that may effect milking process.
Before you swap milking clusters from one cow to the other, make sure you disinfect them while dipping them all into disinfected water (Dezol 151).
Check the udders through the end of milking process to make sure they are emptied properly. Prevent over-milking. If the milking system is not automated, don’t remove milking clusters while teats are under vacuuming.
3- After Milking (Very Important): At the end of the milking, very critical process starts in terms of mastitis. Because, teat holes remain open about 30 mins after milking. In this time, bacteria find a suitable environment to get in the udder. Teat Dipping: After milking, sealing the teats with Naturafilm disinfector is a very effective way to prevent from udder infections.
Feeding must be always done after milking. After milking, Naturafilm removes the suitable environment for bacteria and purifies microbes. It creates an antiseptic film on the teats and isolates the teat hole from microbes. Naturafilm lasts longer and softens the udder skin. Then we can clean and disinfect milking system and all of the milking equipment.
CLEANING AND DISINFECTION OF MILKING SYSTEMS
External cleaning of the milking board:
As soon as the milking is over, the foamed exterior cleaning of the milkheads, pipes and cleanable outer part is done with CleanArt Surface 135, the milking heads are attached to the washing heads (Jetter) and the filters are removed.
Prewashing of milking equipment:
The pre-rinse should be carried out with warm water (about 40-50 C). If the water used is cold (below 35 degrees), the milk crystallizes and forms an oil film on the equipment. If hot water is used in the preliminary rinse (over 50 degrees) this time the proteins break down and the protein layer in the film forms and the washing becomes difficult. Warm water will help to heat the equipment for main washing. Cold rinsing can be done on cold recommended products.
Main wash:
The water temperature is ideal at 55-60 degrees Celsius. Due to the coldness of the pipes in the system, the temperature of the first entering water may be a little bit higher but it should not be over 70 degrees. Otherwise, the proteins are cooked and not cleaned. The flow rate of the water should not be less than 1.5 meters / sec to ensure effective cleaning. The air entering the system causes turbulence and creates a scrubbing effect on the equipment and increases the washing quality. Washing should be between 10-15 minutes. If it cools, the water will cool down and the oil will surface again. In main wash, with non-foaming chlorine-free Alkali cleaner (CleanArt 121), The important thing to know here is the shudder; bacteria can only multiply in environments where organic (protein carbohydrate) dirt is present. Cleaning with chlorine-free alkaline cleaners will not leave dirt on the environment, so there will be no suitable medium for bacteria and bacteria will not multiply. However, Dezol 151 is recommended for complete disinfection of the system.
Rinse:
The system should be rinsed with water after alkaline scrubbing. Depending on the hardness of the water used, it should be washed against milk and limestone, which can be formed by 1-3 system rinses, alkali, rinsing and acid washing behind (CleanArt Acid 96) per week. Recommended for at least 5-10 minutes with warm water (40-45 degrees). A very important fact to note is that CleanArt Acid 96 is an acid based product that does not clean oil, dirt and protein residues. Acid washing is only for milk stones and lime residues. Because the acid is acid, it is used as a false belief that it is 'very strong' instead of alkaline. This is not a correct cleaning. In this respect, after the pre-wash, the system is washed with an alkaline cleaner, then rinsed again and then rinsed with CleanArt Acid 96 and rinsed again.
Final rinse:
Afterwards, the system should be rinsed with cold water again. Milk tanks should be cleaned in a similar way. Non-CIP tanks need to be cleaned by entering
CLEANING OF PORTABLE MILKING PARLORS
Milking Tools Cleaning
The cleaning of mobile milking machines in our country is not done sufficiently or is unknown. Sometimes it is tried to disassemble it by wrong methods or to clean it with domestic detergents. This causes both machines to fail quickly, to be of poor quality, to be infected with a microbial disease, to rapid sickness, and to infect animals with microbes. Portable milking machines should be washed as recommended below with suitable disinfectant.
At least 10 liters of water should be counted for each round of washing for each milking after harvesting done by portable milking trolleys. Pre-wash with 10 liters of warm water should be done first and the jug should be shaken and poured with the last collected water. The main washing is carried out after. 10 liters of hot (50-60 degrees) water and half a teaspoon of CleanArt Acid 96 are added to each container for each milking head.
The milk heads are immersed in this vessel and the milk is absorbed. The medicated water in the jug is rinsed, the jug is poured into the container again and this process is repeated at least 2-3 times. Repeated circulation of the medicinal water in this way will increase the effectiveness of the cleaning. The latter is then dewatered with cold water.
The sequence of operations should be followed by the images on the side.
The other stipulations to observe are the same as those described above. Alkali foam cleaning is done with CleanArt Surface 133 for external cleaning of milk heads and milk cans. At least 2-3 times a week with acidic CleanArt Acid 96 water should be used to wash the milking lime residues of the milking machine. (Except aluminum casts)