U—Lancaster Farming, Saturday. December 12,1970
Highlights of Local 'Back to School' Milk Production Course
About 30 Eastern Lancaster
County dairy tamers have
been “back to school” studying
ways of improving the quality
and production of the milk
their herds produce
Members of the Gaiden Spot
Young Farmer Chapter have
just completed a five week
course on “Quality Milk Produc
tion ” The course consisted of
five meetings including. How
Milk is Made, Sanitation of
Dairy Equipment, Managed
Milking and Bain Management,
Herd Health, and Testing Milk
for Quality
The mam concern of the
afrmer is to inciease production
without saciifiemg quality of
the product To do this the
dairy faimei is finding it neces
sary to pay closei attention to
detail in all aspects of his milk
ing routine, accoiding to Don
ald M Robinson, adult farmer
instructor in the Eastern Lan
caster County School District
Robinson coordinated the in
struction, speakers, films and
field trips for the five-part
course
Milking Equipment
Much concern was raised over
the merit of various types of
milking machines and systems
and techniques of milking
The importance of correct
vacuum levels, the stability of
the vacuum at the teat end, the
vacuum loss due to careless
handling, the time icquired to
properly prepare a cow and
milk her, the anatomy of the
udder and how it functions, and
the selection of proper sanitiz
ing agents were all stressed
The array of dairy equipment
testing instruments available to
the farmer through the dairy
equipment dealer was pointed
out. In turn, the farmers tried
to point out to the equipment
men that their services are of
Dr, Levac (right) shows an East Earl from an inadequate sanitation program on
RDI father and son by microscope the bac- the farm. The father (seated) is Clyde
tena that grow in milk. The pasteurization Martin and son Nelson, who was recently
process kills all the harmful bacteria The elected the Lancaster County FFA presi
demonstration pointed out that milk from dent.
the farm can contain bacteria which stem
Dr. Charles Levac of Penn Dairies dairy. The tests insure quality milk for
demonstrates one of the tests that are run the housewife
on e\ ery shipment of milk received at the
ten required at milking time to
get the best results from their
elaborate equipment
On Milking the Cow
All the guest speakers point
ed out that one of the most im
pel tant faults in dairying opera
tions in general is leaving the
milking machines on too long
This often results when the
fairaer tries ta handle too many
cows at one time
' If the machine is left on too
long, it is working on an empty
udder, which causes irritation
and may lead to Mastitis.
Once a cow has been stimu
lated to produce milk and the
Penn Dairies Tour
At the last meeting, the
g* farmers toured the laboratory
at Penn Dairies in Lancaster
let-down process has begun??he that if the rou- e , r< r Dr. Charles Levac of the
cow releases a hormone that Jadm rs ? interrupted, the milk S™ 1 ' Contnol Laboratory
lasts for about seven to will be delayed s h° w edthe great array of tests
minutes This hormone portion of the time °* air y ru os on
in releasing the milk If the''which' the routine is interrupt- lts „ mi : k ' . , _
milking is not completed with- r ed r This means that if the cow ,r* * hactena counts in the
in the seven to eight minutes, "'generally is milked a half-hour can * De tra ced direct
the machine must then do most date or a half-hour early one , b ,. to paor management,
of the work of the milking day, that amount of time may pract f ce , s -“® farm > was
If the milkm" is not '’one lost in Production. This can this OCC, iS S L * * e
it me minting is not ~o.ie , i mn 7, r f an t dairy makes every -effort to
with the assistance of the caw, e _ n irn Portant factoi in de- - k ~ f armer on rm .
the nroppsti 1? harrier on the termimng overall production WKn ine r. arm ® r ® n Co >:
the process is harder on the ovei r a period of time reeling any practices that would
cow s udder. It also ■ _ ‘ detract form milk quality;., 1
efficiency of the milking opera- - Mastitis Control It was shown,-;;for -example,
tlon - ' The chief economic concern diow antibiotics administered to
Robinson stressed the impor-. to- -the"- dairyman is the great (Continued on Page 10)
tance of routine, of taking the
milk at the same time each day.
loss in production and quality
due to Mastitis, Robinson-said.
' Advances in the control of
Mastitis were presented and
discussed with emphasis -oa teat
dipping and dry cow treatment
as the most promising methods
of control.
Guest speaker Dr. Walter
Trumbauer, Ephrata Veterinari
an, pointed out that experiment
al work on commercial herds
using chlorine or iodine based
teat dips after each milking, in
combination with bacteria cul
tures of cows being turned diy,
followed with appropriate treat
ment, has reduced incidences of
Mastitis 80 to 90 per cent.
Dairymen trying teat dipping
were warned not to give up af
ter a few weeks if they don’t
see results. The farmer must
stick with it for at least six
months before results will be
really evident.
The group toured the new
dairy barn of Andrew Stoltzfus
of Elverson RD2. He was the
outstanding Young Farmer' of
Pennsylvania in 1969.