A good wash routine has a vital role to play in ensuring that high-quality milk is being supplied by dairy farmers to their co-op.
The National Dairy Council (NDC) milk quality awards farm walk took place on the Connelly family’s farm in Tuam on Wednesday (July 19).
A number of factors have helped the Connelly family to maintain milk quality on their farm.
These include genetics and milking routine, along with having an effective wash routine for the parlour.
Although an auto-wash system is in place on the farm, nothing is left to chance and the system is checked on an ongoing basis.
Average cow numbers Fat % Protein % Kg MS/cow Total bacterial count (TBC) Somatic cell count (SCC) 2019 63 4.38 3.7 418 7 54 2020 85 4.59 3.74 484 7 36 2021 91 4.59 3.64 502 7 40 2022 94 4.59 3.73 550 6 49
This has resulted in excellent milk quality being delivered to the co-op from the farm.
The wash routine on this farm involves 14 hot washes/week and a descale once every five days.
Wash routine
Speaking at the walk was David Gleeson from Teagasc who outlined some of the key areas that farmers need to check to ensure they are washing their plants correctly.
Gleeson said that farmers need to determine the amount of water in the trough to determine the amount of water being used in the washing of the parlour.
Once the amount of water in the trough is determined farmers can then determine the detergent rate. For a hot wash, multiply by 0.5% and for cold water, multiply by 1%.
For example, with a 100L trough you would use 500ml of detergent for hot wash and 1L for a cold wash.
Once the amount of water and detergent needed has been worked out, farmers must then use the correct chemical at the correct time.
Gleeson advises that farmers use a caustic detergent with at least 24/25% caustic in it, as this removes fat and protein deposits from the line.
The acid descaler is for mineral deposits from water. If your farm has hard water Gleeson advised that at least seven washes a week should contain this.
For farms that don’t have issues with hard water, Gleeson said he would like to see at least two washes a week using it anyway.
Peracetic acid is a disinfectant for the plant, it doesn’t actually clean anything within the plant.
This has a very small usage rate of 0.15% and should be used in a separate circulation of the plant.
Circulation
Ensuring that the water temperature is correct is also important. At the start of the wash the temperature of the water needs to be between 75-80°.
The end temperature of the water is also important; the temperature needs to be finishing at a temperature greater than 45°.
The circulation time for the wash, according to Gleeson, should be between eight and 10 minutes.
Gleeson said that farmers need to ensure that they are using the correct solution volume, concentration, temperature and circulation time to have an effective wash routine.