January 2016 Newsletter

Milk Price & Supply

The milk price for the month of December is the same as last month - 27.14 cents per litre (123.38 cents per gallon) at 3.60% butterfat and 3.30% protein. This includes a bonus of 0.88 cents per litre for a Winter Somatic Cell Count of less than 200,000, an SDAS bonus of 0.15 cents per litre and including VAT at 5.2%.

The average price paid for the month based on the average butterfat of 4.32% and protein of 3.45%, including SCC, SDAS bonuses, milk price support and VAT is 30.45 cents per litre.

The milk supply for the month of December was 4,089,642 litres (1,727,724 gallons). This represents an increase of approx 37.12% on supply compared to December 2014.

Fertilizer and Feed

Each milk supplier is receiving a summary of their purchases of feed and fertilizer from the Co-Op for 2015. Account holders are also receiving their annual statements this month.

These documents should be carefully filed for future use.

Start of Season Dairy Hygiene Wash Procedures

To ensure Top Quality TBC Results in 2016 it is important to start right with your Cleaning Regime.

Ensure all equipment including water heater is working correctly. Check all rubberware and replace all worn or damaged sections paying particular attention to rubber bends which are often a source of bacterial growth.

Milking Plant Cleaning Procedures

• 1.Descale plant with Descaler and hot water to remove any milkstone residues or mineral scale. Rinse plant with cold water until all Acid residues are removed.
• 2.Detergent Hot wash to remove residual milk residues and general soiling. (If sufficient hotwater is not available the wash should be done with Cold Water immediately after Descale Wash and a Hot Wash done the next day priortorecommencing of Milking Season). Immediately rinse plant with cold water.
• 3. Final rinse sanitation to ensure plant is sanitised and to reduce the bacteriological loading on the milking equipment. This can be done by adding Serpent or Clus-Ster XX to final rinse water.
  
  Automatic Bulk Tank Cleaning
  1. Descale tank with hot descaler to remove any Milkstone Residues or mineral scale.
  2. Detergent hot wash to remove residual Milk residues and general soiling (If sufficient hot water is not available the wash should be done with Cold Water immediately after descale wash and a hot wash done the next day prior to recommencing of Milking Season).
  
  3. Final Rinse Sanitationto ensure plant is sanitised and to reduce the bacteriological loading on the milking equipment. This can be done by using Serpent or Clus-Ster XX.

Spring Dairy Promotion

The Drinagh Spring Dairy Promotion commences on February 1^st and runs until the 5^th of March. Products on promotion include milk replacer, detergents, teatdip and much more.....

Johne’s Disease Management

The bacteria that cause Johne’s Disease (MAP) can be present in the colostrum and milk of infected cows. Therefore it is essential that calves, particularly those calves that will be retained for breeding, are fed colostrum and milk which has a low risk of carrying MAP. To achieve this, the following measures should be adopted;

1. Test all cows individually to identify high risk cows.

2. Avoid feeding calves colostrum or milk from any test positive or test inconclusive cow.

3. Do not pool colostrum or milk. If one of the cows is infected, her milk could contaminate the entire pool

4. Harvest colostrum and milk cleanly – there should be no faecal contamination.

5. Ensure all calf feeding utensils are thoroughly and frequently washed with hot water and detergent.

6. After feeding calves adequate colostrum (i.e. at least 3 litres within 2 hours of birth from the 1st milking) move them on to milk replacer. Milk replacer has a much lower risk of containing MAP than whole milk.

7. Build up a bank of frozen colostrum from low-risk cows in your own herd (i.e. cows that have tested negative over multiple cycles of individual testing)

8. If calves are fed colostrum or milk from cows other than their own dam, record these details.

9. Do not import colostrum or milk from another farm as this could lead to the introduction of infection.

10. Avoid the use of waste milk for feeding calves.

Tricloromethane TCM

Ornua is currently finalising its Centre of Excellence for Kerrygold butter production in Mitchelstown. This facility is due to start butter production in May, and Carbery will be sending cream to the new facility. There are currently a number of strict export regulations in place for TCM levels in dairy products for countries including Germany. A TCM level of 0.0015 mg/kg or less in milk is necessary for Ireland to meet these regulations.

There are four basic principles that need to be adhered to in order to minimise TCM (also known as chloroform), levels in milk

1.Sufficient pre-rinsing is necessary to remove all traces of milk

2.Only the recommended and accurate volume of cleaning and disinfection solvent containing the correct level of active chlorine should be used

3.Storage and re-use of cleaning and disinfection solvents should be minimised

4.Sufficient post-rinsing is necessary to remove all traces of the cleaning and disinfection solvent

RINSE RINSE RINSE

On Farm Checklist

• All remaining milk left in plant should be drained so that there is no remaining milk in tubes /pipelines.
• The plant must then be rinsed with fresh water – flush with water until remaining traces of milk have disappeared and drain the plant. At end of this rinsing, the rinse water should run clear and no milk should remain in the plant.
• Main wash must be conducted with a reputable detergent. Choose a detergent-sterilizer product with a caustic concentration greater than 10% and a chlorine concentration less than 3.5%. If hot water is used at each milking and the detergent solution should not be recycled.
• The second rinse with fresh water then takes place - flush with water until remaining tracesof detergent have disappeared and drain the plant. At the end of the second rinsing, no detergent should remain in the plant and the rinse water should run clear.
• Signs of inadequate rinsing of milking equipment include - smell of chlorine from bulk tank after cleaning, PH of rinse water (in the plant after completion of cleaning) greater than 8.5 andmilk residues in detergent cleaning solution.