Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Automatic Feeder - Maintenance Makes a Difference

The calf care person was running routine washes for an automatic feeder. After washing she sampled:
1. milk going into the feeder
2. hose going out of feeder to one of the four pumps leading to the nipples
3. milk from nipple

The culture results were (cfu/ml):
1. into feeder = 80 cfu/ml
2. hose to pump = 53,000 cfu/ml
3. milk from nipple = 86,500 cfu/ml

So, the automatic feeder was adding bacteria to the clean milk going into it. 

Changed a hose and valve that had been overlooked in previous maintenance.

Culture results were:
1. into feeder = 660 cfu/ml
2. hose to pump = 1,200 cfu/ml
3. milk from nipple = sample missing

It pays to know your machine very well and to stick to a regular maintenance schedule. 

1 comment:

not your ordinary farmer said...

Were there sick calves as a result of the bacterial counts being too high?