Management Techniques for Clean Milk Production in Dairy Animals

Manoj Sharma
Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kapurthala

India has emerged as the highest milk producing country in the world with
an annual production more than 81million tones. We have reached to this milestone by
our countless efforts, incorporating new techniques Artificial Insemination, improving
management practices etc. The per capita milk availability has also increased to 340
gm/day from 220-250 gm/day during 1990's. Presently, we can afford to export milk and
milk products to other countries. Further, with the introduction of the WTO we have got a
fair chance to grow our dominance in this sector. However, the globalization has given
added benefit to the customers for choosing the best with regard to quality, service,
availability, price and brand image. So, producing clean milk has become the utmost
necessity, if our dairy industry has to survive in the open market now.
Clean milk does not mean making the milk free from extraneous matters
by passing it through sieve or muslin cloth. It actually means, the raw milk that has been
drawn from the udder of the healthy animal, produced and handled under hygienic
conditions and contains only small amount of pathogenic bacteria. This is because
earlier we use to determine the quality of milk on the basis of fat, and SNF content,
which does not fulfill the quality requirement in the present scenario. Quality of the milk
needs to be graded on the basis of the number of the microorganism, amount of
antibiotic residue, insecticides and pesticides etc. present in the milk. Milk is the ideal
medium for the rapid microbial growth, so we must take the strict measures to ensure
the safety and cleanliness.
To maintain the quality of the milk, there is need to introduce strict and
standard hygienic practices/measures right from the udder of the cow till it reaches to the
consumer.
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• Deputy Director (Training)
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Major elements of clean milk production can be discussed under the following heads:
1. Animal housing management.
2. Animal health management.
3. Feeding management.
4. Management of personal hygiene.
5. Management during collection and transport of milk.

1. Animal housing management:

a) A clean housing is important to have healthy animal, which will produce clean
milk:
 On many instances, the animal sheds are breeding places for flies and mosquitoes,
which attack the animal, causing various kinds of infectious diseases.
 If design/ construction of the shed is not appropriate, the metabolic gases like
methane, moisture and carbon dioxide produced by the cow and ammonia gas
produced by the micro organisms acting on the dung will not find easy exit. This will
adversely affect the health of the cow. In some areas the animals are kept inside
where the people live. This also is very dangerous to the animal as well as to the
human. Insufficient quantity of the oxygen in the environment will accelerate the
growth of certain kinds of bacteria. The methane produced by the animal during
belching and rumination is also dangerous.
 The air added with the moisture and heat forms ideal environment for growth of
microorganisms, which will naturally find their way to milk during milking. Similarly,
the flies and the mosquitoes also will find their way to the milk, directly from the
environment and also when the animal flips while milking.
b) The sheds needed to be designed/modified:
 To have pucca flooring.
 To ensure proper ventilation/air change.
 To ensure drainage of dung and urine straight to the gutter.
 To ensure comfort to the animal.
 Having provision for clean and fresh water.
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c) The existing sheds should be maintained properly:

 Always keep the shed clean and dry. Wash the floor everyday. Spray kerosene in the
dung pit and fly repellant such as phenyl - inside the shed and the premises.
Remove dung more than once a day, preferably away from the shed. Similarly, set
up Gobar gas plant.
2. Animal health management:
 Check all the animals for mastitis periodically -once in 15 days, for each teat, by
using MASTRIP.
 Get the animals examined for infectious diseases from time to time - twice a year.
 Vaccination against diseases like FMD, HS etc should be done.
 Do not pour milk from animals affected by any disease.
 Discard the milk from the animal treated with antibiotics for the prescribed days as
the milk will have antibiotic residue and antibiotics, which will affect the quality of the
milk and the health of the consumer.
3. Feeding management:
 Feed the animal with a healthy diet - a healthy cow will be disease free and will yield,
clean milk.
 Feed the animal with clean feed - chances of disease would be low.
 Clean the water tubs and the manger every day with clean water.
 Do not feed the animal with left over food, which is spoiled and having mould growth.
 Do not allow the animal to drink dirty water. Always provide clean water.
4. Personal hygiene:
a) Disease control:
 The milker should not show symptoms of any communicable disease.
 He/she should not have open cuts including sores, boils or infected wounds or any
other abnormality, which will be source of microbial contamination to milk.
 If he/she has a stomach upset, he/she should not milk the animal. This will prevent
communication udder disease and also contamination to milk.
b) Cleanliness:
 The milker should wear clean clothing and keep himself/herself clean.
 He/she should maintain adequate personal cleanliness, like haircut/securing the hair,
trimming of beard and cutting the nail regularly.
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 All cuts, blisters or boils must be covered with clean dressing.

 Wash hands with soap and dry the hands with clean towel, before milking.
 Should not smoke, chew pan, eat drink or spit while milking.
 Avoid coughing and sneezing while milking.
c) Milking management:
 Train the animal to let out milk without the calf.
 Clean the shed before milking and dispose the dung away from the shed.
 Clean the animals - especially wash the udder with clean water before milking.
 Wipe and dry the udder after washing using clean dry towel.
 Wash hands with soap and dry the hands with towel.
 Use vessels - preferably made of stainless steel, without any holes and patch up,
and which are easy to clean.
 Adopt correct milking practices - bad practice will do irreparable damage to the teat.
 Use separate and clean utensils for washing the udder and for milking.
 Do not pour milk of animals affected with contagious diseases.
 Do not pour milk from animals under antibiotics treatment till the curing period, to
avoid presence of antibiotic residues and antibodies in milk.
 Use clean water for washing the vessels and also the animals.
 Ensure personal hygiene and health of the person milking the animal.
 Finish the milking as fast as possible. The excitation by the animal to let down, lasts
only for 7 minutes. Ensure complete milking. Microorganisms will act on the left over
milk in the udder, which will ultimately result in mastitis.
 Always keep the milk covered.
 Disinfect the teats by teat dip (with disinfectants such as Iodophor) after milking, to
avoid entry of micro-organisms to the teat canal.
 Do not use paper, leaves etc. for keeping the lid of the milk pal tight.
 If the calf is used for excitation, wash the udder after suckling by the calf.
 Keep the surrounding clean, as well as the premises.
5. Management during collection and transport:
 Milk collection place and other room should be maintained absolutely clean to
prevent contamination.
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 Adequate provision should be made for cleaning and sanitizing the vessels used for
milk collection. Sanitizer should be kept away from the milk collection place.
 If cloth is used for staining, it should be washed after every collection and sanitized
by using bleaching powder.
 All the can lids should not be kept on ground.
 The lids should be tightly fitted on cans to prevent spillage. If looses, replace same.
 Do not use hay, grass etc. to give a fitting to the lid.
 Milk should be kept covered always.
 It should be ensured that the milk cans are in shade when kept for loading in the
truck.
 Trucks without the cover or hood should not b used. As they expose the milk to
sunlight and hence accelerate the growth of microorganisms.
 Transportation of other materials along with the milk cans leads to contamination.
 Careless handling of cans leads to dents/damages, which act as points for growth of
microorganisms. Moreover, It becomes very difficult to clean the cans.
As a link in the milk chain, the transporter has a major responsibility to ensure
that the quality of the milk does not deteriorate in his hands. Most of the growth of
microorganisms takes place during the time lag between milk collection and the milk
receipt at the dairy/collection dock. It should be ensured that this time has to be reduced
to the possible extent.
It is the need of the hour and necessity to withstand in this competitive
world and to get maximum benefits, we must shift towards marketing of milk products
than milk as liquid reason being these milk products help us in fetching the higher
returns. For getting higher returns, we have to meet certain minimum
parameters/conditions. Hence, it is the ardent duty of everyone that produces and
handles milk to prevent contamination at every stage. This will ensure the growth and
development of the dairy industry of our country.

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