With temperatures hitting the negatives this week, farmers need to ensure the milk tank can get in and out of the yard smoothly.

It is one thing setting up for the freezing conditions by ensuring the parlour or water supplies do not freeze over.

However, for winter milk herds, the lorry is probably collecting your milk every three days, which means that a few measures might have to be in place to get the lorry driver in and out of the yard safely.

With the short days, many milk collections are done at night when visibility is poor, therefore farmers should have a clear path to the bulk tank.

Clearing away any mud or water from the entrance to the dairy and gritting the area should stop the surface from getting slippery and prevent any falls.

The entrance from the road to the farm yard should also be gritted, as the weighted lorries can easily slip off the road if they are very icy.

The same goes for lorries delivering meal - grit around the bin to ensure they can safely deliver the product.

These simple steps can prevent the risk of injury through slips and falls, and prevent a lorry from ending up in one of your ditches.

The parlour

Getting the parlour prepared may involve installing a thermostat-controlled heater in the plant room, which should cut in when temperatures fall below 1℃.

Items such as the power washer should be kept in here to prevent the pump from freezing.

Water should be drained from all the low points once the wash is finished to make sure all the excess water is removed from the plant.

All clusters should be removed from the jetters and left to hang down to remove any water in them.

Finally, a salt solution should be circulated through the parlour once the final rinse is washed through, making sure all detergent is well rinsed out.

A kilogram of salt per 20L will be sufficient to drop the freezing point of water.

Give the parlour a rinse out before the next milking to get rid of any salt residues.