Prerequisites of clean milk production

Principles of clean milk production

Milk is considered clean or of high quality if it is free from dirt, sediments and has low bacterial
& somatic cell counts, with no addition of water and off flavors. Milk is known to be one of the
best foods but it may also become a harmful food if it is not produced and handled under sanitary
conditions. Milk which enters into market must be clean so that it will have good flavor and be
free from harmful bacteria and other disease organisms. Milk produced under sanitary conditions
will have longer keeping quality. It is more important to produce good quality milk for fluid use
than when milk is converted into dairy products.
1. Purpose to produce clean milk

 To produce milk free from dirt.

 To secure milk of low bacterial count.
 To keep milk free of disease organisms.
 To prevent bad odor.
 To prevent spread of milk borne diseases.
 To increase shelf-life of milk.
 To make good quality dairy products
2 Prerequisites of clean milk production

 Milking should be conducted gently, quietly, quickly, cleanly and completely

 Maintenance of clean condition in the milking barn
 The act of milking should be finished within 5 to 7 minutes, so that the udder can be
emptied completely so long as the effect of oxytocin is available
 No dusty feed should be fed during milking
 Just before milking (after suckling by calf, if weaning is not practiced) the udder should be
wiped with a cloth dipped and squeezed in some weak antiseptic solution. In winter the
cloth may be dipped in warm antiseptic solution.
 A part from cleanliness of cows and their udders, the milkers as well as the milking pails
should be clean.
 The first few strips of milk from each teat should be removed
 Most of the milkers moisten their figures with milk, water or even saliva, while
milking.The hands should be perfectly dry while milking.
 When cracks and sores are noticed on teats, some antiseptic ointment or cream should be
smeared over them after milking.
3 Milking procedure and practices for quality milk milk production
Knowledge of the possible unhygienic practices that lead to the gross contamination of milk will
be useful in realizing the gravity of the situation and in evolving improved strategies. The possible
undesirable practices that are prevalent may broadly be classified into four categories:

 Practices related to the animal: unhealthy animal, unclean body and udder of the animal
 Practices related to the milking personnel: unhealthy milker, unclean hands and clothes of
the milker, unhygienic personal habits of the milker
 Practices related to the milking process: incomplete milking, wrong milking procedure,
unclean Utensils/ vessels
  Practices related to the environment: poor housing and feeding of the animal, unhygienic
surroundings
To get rid of these undesirable practices following GHP ( Good Husbandry Practices) Should be
done to produce clean milk.
3.1 cleanliness of animal
The coat of the animal should be washed, brushed and clipped regularly. This is more important
in the case of buffaloes, as they wallow in dirty ponds and carry mud and filth on their body. The
grooming of the animals should be done well before the milking process, so that the dirt particles
in the air do not fall into milk. From time to time, hair from hind legs, udder and tail of the animal
to be milked should be shaved off.
3.2 Cleanliness of utensils and milkers
All milking utensils should be of uniform size. They should have small mouths to avoid external
contamination. They should be made of a non-rusting and non-absorbent material such as
aluminium or galvanized iron. Stainless steel would be ideal, but for the cost considerations.The
utensils to be used for milking should be clean and sterilized. Dome shaped stainless steel vessels
are desirable and washed with 200 ppm of chlorine solution. They should be regularly cleaned
with sanitizers.
Clothes & attire of the milking personnel should be clean. They should cover their head to avoid
hair falling into the milk. Persons with injury, skin and infectious diseases should not handle the
milk. There should be no smoking, eating, chewing pan, spitting, cleaning nose etc. during milking.
The milker should keep his fingernails short and clean. He should clean his hands with soap and
clean water followed by an antiseptic solution. They should then be wiped dry with a clean towel.
It is recommended that persons engaged in milking and handling of milk should be subjected to
regular medical inspection.

 Milker should be free from infectious diseases

 Milker should cut his nails regularly (to avoid staphyolococci)
 Milker should clean hands with soap and water before milking
 Milker should wear clean cloths and caps
 Use utensils which have smooth surface and free from dents and crevices
 Utensils should be cleaned with detergent – sanitizer formulae (Sod.carb+Iodophores)
 Do not use wider mouth utensils
3.3 Health condition of cows
The animals should be examined periodically for udder and other infections. Infected animals
should be treated by a qualified veterinarian and should be isolated. Sanitary precautions to prevent
and control the disease should be adopted. In case of disease like mastitis, animals which are in
healthy condition are to be milked first followed by infected animals. In case of infected animals,
the quarters which are not affected are to be milked first. Milk of the infected animal should never
be pooled with the bulk milk and disposed off properly until the animal recovers from the illness
fully.

 Purchased animals are tested for Tuberculosis and brucellosis and quarantined
 Animals are regularly checked for mastitis and udder lesions
 Isolation of infected animals and following prescribed treatment
 Milk of infected animal should not be mixed with bulk milk.
 Clean the animals at least 15min before milking.
  Clip the long hair around flanks, udder and tail.
 Udder and teats are cleaned just before milking and wiping with a cloth. Use warm water
if possible & usage of chlorinated water is good practice.
3.4 Proper cleaning of the milking area
Before milking, the surrounding area should be thoroughly cleaned. All gutters, floor should be
cleaned well. In case of mud floors, water is to be sprinkled to prevent dust falling into
milk. Separate housing away from human dwelling, sewage, manure pits and stagnant water pools
would be good for milking area(Milking Parlour)

 House – well ventilated; normal sloppy drainage, water proof floors, hard and easy to
clean.
 Feed manger smooth without ridges.
 Ample sunlight – North & south direction.
 Air space 500 cft/cow.
 Dry bedding.
 Periodic lime washing.
 General quietness in the shed.
 Speedy milking is desirable.
 Clean and adequate water supply on the farm.
 Use wet or pellet food stuffs during milking.
 Keep feed and weed flavours out of milk.
 Proper manure disposal – pit away from farm and remove manure periodically.
 Control of flies and insects.
 Employing incentive payment plan
3.5 Milking processes

 Complete milking and elimination of fore milk which contains higher bacteria.
 Follow full hand milking; Dry milking and Fat milking (a flavourless fat as lubricant; not
used widely but a good method).
 Use strip cup test.
 Cool milk on farm preferably to <5°c
Sources and remedies of contamination

Milk is highly perishable product. If handle careless, milk will be contaminated. Such
contaminated milk will not be kept for long time for processing. The products made will be of
inferior quality. So contamination to milk is avoided by applying GHP (Good Husbandry Practice)
/GMP(Good Manufacturing Practices) practices.Various sources of contamination of milk and
their remedies can be explained under these two headings:

1.Internal factors: Such factor which is due to milking cow itself.These may include;

a. Mastitis udder: If milking cow is suffered from mastitis, milk will be contaminated. Such milk
may contains bacteria, pus, blood , Somatic cells etc. To avoid such contamination, milk from
cow suffering from mastitis should be discarded.

 Test fore milk on strip cup.

 Test by Hotis or Californiam mastitis test if positive discard.
 All positive reactors be milked at the end.

b. Fore milk: The udder and teat of milking animals may contains fecal material of she shed. So
first few strip of fore milk should be discarded,and not be used for human consumption.

2.External factors: Such factors is out of the milch animals. Milk may be contaminated by dung,
forage materials, external parasites of milk, flies, dirty utensil etc if not clean properly or if
GHP/GMP will not be practiced. Such contamination reduces keeping quality of milk. Proper
cleaning of utensils or animals is most. Milk must be filtered after milking and chilled properly.

These Process may include;

 Cow body: Healthy, clean, well groomed an hour before milking, hind quarter washed, tail
tied with legs at milking time.
 Udder: Washed, wiped with clean towel soaked in antiseptic solution, kept dry at milking
time.
 Milker: Healthy, nails cut, clean hands, head covered with cap, clean habits, hand washed
with chlorine solution of 200 ppm
 Utensils: Clean and sterilized, stainless steel metal, seamless small open top (dome shape),
washed and sterilized by chlorine solution.
 Barn: White washed, free from cob, webs, bad odor, floor clean and disinfected, well
lighted and ventilated.
 Methods of milking: Full hand and dry hand milking.
 Feed and water: Free from weeds and objectionable smell. No dusty roughage at milking
time clean and safe water.
 Miscellaneous: Milk produced must be strained through muslin cloth and then it should be
stored at low 500C temperature.

Measures for clean milk Production at market milk

Clean milk production will be possible at market milk if we follow the clean milk production
measure at farm level, plant level and during storage and transportation. Measures for clean milk
Production at farm level can be done by:

 Animal hygiene
o Animal infected should be separated / isolated and milk of such animals should not
be mixed with bulk supply.
o Cleanliness of body and udder before and after milking
 Milkers’ hygiene
o Milkers should be free from infectious diseases
o Hands should be washed with soap and water before milking
o Nails & hair not allowed to over grow.
 Hygiene during milking process
o Milk pails and utensils cleaned with detergents and sanitizers & properly rinsed
with water
o Complete milking. No milk should be left inside udder.
o Elimination of fore milk is desirable since it avoids possible contamination already
present in teat canal.
o Milking by full hand method & not by knuckling/ fisting.
 Environmental hygiene
o Place of milking and animal houses should be clean.
o Proper ventilation with the provision of full sunlight (Avoid direct air current)
o Dry and tick free bedding
o Control of insects with judicial use of chemical sprays.
o Cleaning of walls , standings & gutters .
o Straining and cooling of milk.

Measures for CMP at plant level: Milk Processing Plant should be of:

 Location: Free form dirt, dust, smoke with an ample water and power supply
 Building: Easily cleanable, well ventilated, well lighted with self-closing-double action
doors
 Services and utilities


o Water - adequate supply of hot and cold water, soft and free from bacteria and
chemical effluents and other contaminants
o Steam - adequate supply for cleaning, disinfection, processing and other operations.
o Refrigeration - Sufficient cooling capacity, for processing and strorage.
o Cleaning and disinfection facilities Required for equipments, utensils, hand
washing with soap and detergent provision.
o Equipment for heat processing be provided with accurate instrumentations, controls
and alarms.
o Facilities for cooling milk on receipt and after heat treatment to 40C and for
maintaining at that temp.
 Material handling
 o Milk obtained from healthy animals of good bacteriological quality free from
antibiotics and chemical residues, extraneous matter, objectionable taints.
o In edible material stored separately.
o Pesticides and insecticides kept under lock &Key
 Cleaning and disinfection of Plant and equipment
o All milk contact surface should be sufficiently cleaned daily
o Any equipment not used within 6 hrs of disinfection should be re-disinfected before
use
 Quality control
o Constant chemical and microbiological examination of raw materials, intermediate
and final products should be conducted
 Packaging
o Packaging material should be non-toxic & non-reactive and should preserve the
quality of the product effectively
o Packaging is carried out under aseptic conditions.
 Personal hygiene at plant
o Persons engaged in plant should be healthy free from infections, cuts and sores.
o Employees should be trained in maintaining high degree of personal cleanliness.
o Smoking, eating and spitting in the processing area should be prohibited.
o Conduct a health checkup at periodical intervals
o Clean protective clothing (head cover, hand gloves and foot wear) should be used.
o Visitors should not be taken to milk processing area but allowed to view the
operations through windows and balconies.c
o Cats, dogs and other pet animals should be excluded from the premesis.

Measures for CMP during storage and transportation

 Product should be stored at appropriate temp. and in a clean environment.

 Transport in clean vehicles designed for dairy products. Internal surface of vehicle should
be smooth and easy to clean
 Short life products should be transported in refrigerated or insulated vehicles.
Methods of milking

Milking Methods

Milking is an art, requires skill, and experience. The process of milking should be conducted
quietly, quickly, gently, cleanly and completely without any pain, annoyance or inconvenience to
the animal.Cows are milked from left side. Teats may be milked diagonally or forequarters
together and then hind quarters together. The milk must be squeezed and not dragged out of teats
in order to prevent injury to teats. The first few strips of milk from each teat are let on strip-cup to
check for possible incidence of mastitis. It also helps in discharging out of bacteria which have
accessed and collected in teat canal. Dry milking is preferred since there is no contamination by
water. Wet milking after wetting the udder is not advisable as water itself may be a source of
contamination. The different milking methods are

1 Characteristic of good milking

 Milking at regular interval

 Milking fast within stipulated period.
 Milking completely.
 Use of sanitary measures.

2 Advantages of good milking

 High milk yield

 Quality milk production.
 Less occurrence of mastitis.
 More profit per cow.

3 Methods of milking

Milking methods can be broadly divided into two

3.1 Hand Milking: If milking is done by hand this is called hand milking. Hand milking is of
following types

3.1.1 Full hand milking: It is the best method as it causes minimum injuries to the teats. In this
method teat is circled with index finger and thumb at the junction of teat and udder, the other
portion of teat is closed with remaining fingers and pressed on all sides against the palm.

Full hand milking stimulates natural suckling of a calf. Cows with large teats and buffaloes are
milked with full hand method. Full hand method removes milk quicker than stripping because of
no loss of time in changing the position of the hand. Even by efficient method of milking only
85% of milk comes out from udder and 15% still remains in udder which is called residual milk.
It is done by grasping the teat with all the five fingers and pressing it against the palm does full
hand milking.Full hand milking removes milk quicker than stripping because of no loss of time in
changing the position of the hand.

Figure: Full hand milking

3.1.2 Stripping: Generally stripping method is adopted in small cows with smaller teats. It is done
by firmly holding the teat between the thumb and fore finger and drawing it down the length of
the teat and at the same time pressing it to cause the milk to flow down in a stream. The last drown
milk at the close of milking called stripping is richer in fat than fore milk.Stripping consists of
firmly seizing the teat at its base between the thumb and forefinger and drawing them down. The
entire length of the teat is pressed simultaneously to cause milk ejection and to flow down in
streams. The process is repeated in succession. Generally stripping method is adopted in small
cows with narrow teats. Sometimes it is followed to draw the last strips of milk containing more
fat. A combination of initial full hand milking method followed by stripping at the end is a good
method of milking.

Disadvantages

 Application of unequal pressure more than necessary on teats.

 More frictional effect on teats by sliding the finger and thumb up and down.
 Loss of richest part of milk due to inefficient milking

Figure: Stripping method of milking

3.1.3 Fisting/Knuckling

It is pressing the thumb against the teats while the teats are in between thumb and fingers. It may
cause injury to the teat. This method is not advisable and is least recommended of all milking
methods

 Bend their thumb against the teat

 Knuckling should always be avoided to prevent injuries of the teat tissues.

Figure: Fisting or Knuckling method of milking

3.2 Machine milking: Milking of animals by using machine or mechanical forces is called
machine milking. Milking is done by using machine and generally adopted for herds with large
number of cows and with high yielders. The milk flow is continuous in this method. Advantages
are reduced labour cost, short time for milking, less injury to teats, hygienic method of milk
production etc.

The parts of a machine milking system are milking unit, pulsator system, vacuum supply system
and milk flow system. The milking unit attached to the udder has a teat-cup assembly, suspension
cup, and connecting air and milk tubes. The teat cup consists of a steel shell with a liner which fits
over teats called as inflation. The inflation squeezes and relaxes on the teat as the pulsator operates
causing the milk to flow into the system. The pulsation ratio is the time between milking and
resting phases of pulsation cycle. The pulsation ratio refers to the number of pulsations per minute.
The pulsation ratio usually varies from 1:1 to 2.5:1. Set the pulsation rate around 48 to 72 cycles
per minute to avoid excessive slow or fast speed and subsequent decline in milk flow rate.

Always maintain the measure of vacuum by operating the milking machine between 10 and 16
inches of Hg. Apply milking machine gently within 30 to 60 seconds of washing of udder. Remove
milking machine promptly as soon as milk flow stops by breaking vacuum first. Disinfect the teat
ends by dipping them in antiseptic solution. Milk utensils and teat cups are immediately washed
with warm water.

Approximately 55 % of total labour time in dairy herd operation is involved in milking. Machine
milking reduced it to an appreciable degree. Nearly 160 cows are milked per hour with machine
and that for hand milking is10 to 12 cows per hour. The milk machine performs two basic
functions.

1. It opens the streak canal through the use of a partial vacuum and allow the milk to flow out
of the teat cistern through a line to a receiving container.
2. It massages the teat, which prevents congestion of blood and lymph in the teat.
Figure: Machine Milking

Advantages of Machine milking

 Milking cows quickly and efficiently

 Without injuring the udder
 No pain
 It is easy to operate
 Saves time
 Very hygienic and energy-conserving
 Milk from the udder can be removed completely.

Disadvantages of machine milking

 Severe over milking, in combination with high milking vacuum and high compression
lines, can pull out too much keratin from the teat canal and prolong the time required for
teats to reseal after milking. This may contribute to increased mastitis infection in cases
where cow housing hygiene is poor.
  Severe under-milking can reduce lactation and total milk yield in high producing cows.

3.3 Machine milking Vs. Hand milking

S.N Machine milking Hand milking

1 It is a modern technique of milking high Conventional art of milking operation in practice.
milk yielder
2 It is economical in long run but initial cost More Labour, skill and efficiency required
may high, easy, Labour and time saving
3 Milk production is more hygienic with Lack practical hygienic operation.
optimum standard of cleanliness
4 Milking is more regular. Irregular.
5 It ensures quick efficient and complete Comparatively much less.
milking of cows.
6 Cows are milked with same pressure and Occurrence of individual variations.
same milker.
7 It eliminates likelihood of spread of More infections spread on account of manual milking.
infection from one cow to another to an
appreciable degree.
8 It works with same efficiency both for hard Practically equal efficient not operative.
or slow and soft milkers.
9 It offers production of more and quality Yield and quality milk both affected.
milk by protecting udder from damage and
disease.
10 It is the need of modern management for Not a necessity to natural process of calf sucking.
large and organized dairies of high yielding
cows.
11 It stimulates natural process of calf Not so closes to natural process of calf sucking.
suckling its mother's milk by combined
action of pressure of its tongue against teats
and suckling action of mouth.

4 Milking order

The order in which groups of cattle in a milking herd passes through the milking parlor twice each
day for reasons of mastitis control. The order should be 1 st pariety cows first followed by
uninfected senior cows, followed by known infected but clinically normal individuals and then
cows with clinical mastitis last.

Methods of milking influence the quality and quantity of milk produced at the dairy farm. Proper
method of milking results in the removal of entire milk present in the udder resulting in optimal
milk production in a particular lactation besides avoiding injuries to the teat and udder and
improving the udder health. Disturbances like noises, movement of personnel during milking etc
are to be avoided to cause least disturbance to the milking cows and avoiding with holding of milk
at some times.

1. Define clean milk production. Why clean milk production is important? Justify your Answer.
2. How can you produce clean milk? Describe.
3. Write the purpose of Clean milk production.
4.List out the necessary components of clean milk production.
5. Describe the process of clean milk production at farm Level.
6. Differentiate between Hand milking and Machine Milking.
7. Write short notes on:
a.Full hand milking b. knuckling