Milk Quality & Procedures
Having quality milk with low somatic cell counts and high fats and proteins is not only essential for the dairy to continue producing and selling milk, but something that dairy farmers are proud of. The UGA Dairy has a SCC average just over 10,000 cells/ml lower than the average of all other Georgia dairy farms (DHI 202).
The herd has a comprehensive mastitis management and prevention program. Any cows that are noticed to have mastitis are reported to the manager and then sampled to determine the agent causing the infection. Once the results come back on the agent, the dairy is advised on a course of treatment, and then the cow is resampled to confirm effective treatment.
The samples schedule shows when samples need to be taken. It is checked by milkers at the beginning of the shift
However, it rarely gets to this point because as soon as the cows calve, they are sampled on their 3rd and 10th day in milk and tested for bacteria as well as evaluated for somatic cell count. Any positive results are immediately treated to ensure that the duration of their lactation is as productive as possible.
Samples are collected using cotton balls soacked in alcohol and are then placed in a rack to be picked up by the lab for analysis.
The milking procedures are ordered to minimize bacteria exposure to the teats. This is why the teats/udder are wiped off, stripped, dipped with 0.5% iodine predip, and then wiped again before hooking the cow up to the milking machine. Although several other farms will dip the teats and then strip, this is unsanitary and can increase the chances of mastitis because the milker is reintroducing bacteria from their hands onto a clean teat. According to the 202, zero cows have left the herd due to mastitis.
The cows are also dipped with a barrier post dip that is 1% iodine to prevent bacteria from not only entering the teat canal after milking, but to also inhibit the growth of bacteria already on the teat surface. Therefore, using a barrier teat dip drastically decreases the chances of a cow getting mastitis. (Virginia Tech Extension Dairy Science - Milking Practices Recommended to Assure Milk Quality and Prevent Mastitis).
The farm also uses a dry off procedure to ensure that the cows do not gain any infections while dry. The cows are milked out and then treated with Tomorrow to treat and kill any existing bacteria. They are then treated with Orbeseal that provides a barrier in the teat canal to keep bacteria out.
The 0.5% iodine pre-dip is in the yellow top dip-cups and the 1% barrier post-dip is in the blue top dip-cups.
The Tomorrow treatment is conveniently packaged in single dosage tubes.
This is the Tomorrow product used in the dry-off protocol.
Currently, 59% of the herd is below 142,000 cells/ml and 81% is below 283,000 cells/ml. This is important in order for the dairy to continue producing and selling legal milk (the legal limit for SCC is 750,000 cells/ml) but also becasue the exceptional somatic cell count also affords the dairy a bonus for high quality milk (DHI 202).
In addition, our rolling herd average for fat and protein are 814 and 647lbs respectively compared to the average of only 743.6 and 628.9lbs (DairyMetrics Report - Benchmark)
The parlor is thoroughly cleaned at the end of ech shift to keep a clean environment and decrease the chances of a cow contracting an environmental mastitis.