How Milk gets from the Cow to the Consumer

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How Milk gets from the Cow to the Consumer
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Step 1 Cows Grazing

• Typically cows spend about 8 hours eating, 8
  hours sleeping and 8 hours ruminating or chewing
  their cud. Cows are usually provided with a fresh
  paddock of grass in the morning after milking and
  another fresh paddock of grass in the evening
  after milking. They may also be fed some grain in
  the dairy while being milked and Hay or Silage
  (conserved forage) if there is not enough grass
  available.

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Step 2 Harvesting Milk

• Cows are normally milked 2 times per day,
  however some high producing herds are milked 3
  times per day. Normally cows are milked at about
  6 am in the morning and again at about 5 pm in
  the evening. Milking time takes about 5 minutes
  per cow but depends on the type of machine and
  the amount of milk the cow is producing. Most
  dairies have enough machines to milk 20 to 40
  cows at  one time, reducing the amount of time
  the cows wait to be milked. Milking machines
  mimic the action of a young calf by creating a
  pulsating vacuum around the teat, which causes
  the milk to be released from the udder.

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Step 3 Storing Milk

• Milk storage vats or silos are refrigerated
  and come in various shapes and sizes. Milk is
  usually stored on the farm at 39 degrees
  Fahrenheit or colder for no more than 48 hours.
  Vats and silos are agitated to make sure that the
  entire volume remains cold and milkfat does not
  separate from the milk. After milk has been
  collected, storage vats and stainless steel pipes
  are thoroughly cleaned before the farmer milks
  again.

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Step 4 Transporting Milk

• Milk is collected from the farm every 24 or
  48 hours. The tankers that are used have a
  special stainless steel body which is heavily
  insulated to keep the milk cold during
  transportation to the processing factory. Milk
  tanker drivers are accredited milk graders, which
  allow them to evaluate the milk prior to
  collection. Tanker drivers grade and if necessary
  reject milk based on temperature, sight and
  smell. A representative sample is collected from
  each farm pickup prior to being pumped onto the
  tanker. After collection, milk is transported to
  factory sites and stored in refrigerated silos
  before being processing.

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Step 5 Lab Testing

• Samples of milk are taken from farm vats
  prior to collection and from the bulk milk tanker
  on arrival at the factory. Samples from the bulk
  milk tanker are tested for antibiotic and
  temperature before the milk enters the factory
  processing area. Farm milk samples are tested
  for milkfat/protein/bulk milk cell count and
  bacteria count. If milk is unsuitable for our
  quality products the milk will be rejected. Most
  farmers are paid on quality and composition of
  their milk and it is extremely important that
  these samples are collected and stored correctly.

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Step 6 Packaging

• Now the milk is ready to be packaged for
  delivery to the stores. The milk travels through
  pipes to the automatic packaging machines that
  fills and seals the milk into paper cartons or
  plastic jugs. As the containers move through the
  assembly line, a date is printed on each of them
  to show how long the milk will stay fresh.

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Step 7 Distributing and Selling Milk

• After packaging, the milk is finally ready
  for the customers, and it is stored in a big,
  refrigerated room until it is delivered to stores
  to be sold.

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Resources

• http//parmalat.com.au/index.php?optioncom_conten
  tviewarticleid45Itemid222
• http//milk.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceI
  D000658

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ABL Technology Ltd.

• a dynamic company that provides global solutions
  for design and production of  milk processing,
  milk production, food processing and packing
  equipment. 
• Website www.abl-tech.com