UV milk purifier outs disease in Oz calves

James and Robyn Mann run Donovan’s Dairy, at Wye, milking 2200 cows at peak time on a 116 unit rotary platform.

“Some time ago we could not get on top of salmonella issues,” says James Mann. “Every time we vaccinated, we got another strain. It was a massive drug cost, so we decided to go with a UV Pure purifier system. It was the logical next step – we weren’t getting anywhere with vaccines.”

The WestfaliaSurge UV Pure ultraviolet calf milk purifier is a modular unit built around stainless steel UV turbulators. The UV lamp is inserted into a quartz tube allowing the light to penetrate the milk as it passes over the tube and into a separate calf milk vat. A hot water circuit allows cold milk to be brought up to feeding temperature.  The flexible system is scalable depending on the size of the installing dairy operation. 

Waste milk from mastitis cows is often discarded, but if treated properly to lower bacterial or pathogen levels,it can replace milk sources that calf-rearers would otherwise need to buy. The ultraviolet light in the UV Pure system penetrates bacterial cells in the milk, destroying their DNA bonds, killing the bacteria and eliminating their ability to reproduce and grow.

It kills the bacteria without affecting the nutrient value of the milk, and the immune factors and proteins remain unchanged. Vitamins A, B6, B12 and C remain intact and there is an increase in Vitamin D, which does not occur with traditional heat pasteurisation. The milk is never heated above feeding temperature, helping to preserve its beneficial immunoglobulins.

Donovan’s Dairy installed the UV Pure system a year ago and it has worked during two calvings, totalling 1050 calves with just 15 losses in that time.

Barb Habner has been managing calves at the farm for 10 years and says sick calves have been minimal since the new system was started.  “Now, if any calf gets sick, it’s one course of antibiotics and they’re fixed.”

All the mastitis milk goes into the 1000L tank and Habner tops it up with fresh milk for the required amount. “We purify what we need for the calves that day, and tip out what’s left.”

The UV Pure is automated and easy to use with minimal training required for operators. It will start automatically at pre-set times and calculates the required process time for the amount of milk, reducing time and energy. It incorporates an automatic clean-in-place wash process after every batch.

“You select how many litres are in the tank, press ‘go’ and it does the process and shuts off when it’s finished,” explains Habner. “When we have colostrum milk in, we show it as twice the actual volume.”

The colostrum milk is purified and fed separately at the calving pad. They clear the pad three times a day during calving, when they have 40 cows calving per day at peak time.

“From the purifier the milk goes into a cooling tank to maintain it at 14°C if we need to store it otherwise it comes out at 20°C – or whatever we set it at – and straight to the calves.

“It is easy to use, giving us healthy calves where it was previously hard work…. This is so much better than mixing powder. Life is easier and the UV Pure works in well with the daily routine.”

All the calves get 4L/day and are weaned at 110kg. 

While they are in the calf shed, they get ad lib grain and hay and access to water.