increase font size
Nick Tait, DairyNZ.
Are you prepared for the new milk cooling regulations to take effect on June 1?
June is just around the corner and some farmers are known already to be compliant with the new regulations; others may need to assess their system to see if changes need to be made.
The new regulations require milk to be chilled to:
6°C within six hours of starting milking; or
6°C within two hours of completion of milking; and
must be held at 6°C or below until collection or the next milking; and
must not exceed 10°C during subsequent milkings.
Monitoring of these new regulations will require that these temperatures are proven:
at the end of calving, once the full herd is milking
during peak milk flow in November; and
during February.
If you haven’t checked your milk cooling system yet, I’d recommend testing it to see if it meets the new criteria before spending on an unnecessary upgrade.
A good place to start is to monitor the temperature of your vat over several milkings to see if it meets the new requirements. If not you should first check the performance of your plate heat exchanger (PHE), also known as a plate cooler.
Various ways exist to check if it’s performing efficiently; you could approach a rural professional or do it yourself.
Checking the plate cooler
The easiest way to check the plate cooler is to compare the temperature difference between the incoming temperature of the cooling water and the outgoing temperature of the milk leaving.
A PVC strip thermometer is an easy way to self-check. The thermometers have a paper backing which is peeled off and stuck directly onto a clean, dry metal pipe.
The temperature difference needs to be no more than 3°C to ensure your PHE is working efficiently.
If the temperature exchange isn’t under 3°C, make sure you have sufficient water flow and the PHE size is sufficient for your herd size.
Optimum water flow for the PHE is about 3L to every 1L of milk. To check this, hook up a flow meter to see how much water is going through the PHE and compare it to the peak flow from your milk lift pump.
Water entering your PHE also needs to be as cold as possible. Investigate taking it straight from your bore rather than storing in tanks. Don’t recycle PHE water unless it’s chilled between uses.
Wrap your vat
An inexpensive way to make your cooling system more efficient is to install a vat wrap, if it’s single skinned, which can save 15-25% of the energy required for milk cooling.
If you do need to make changes to your system, don’t leave it to the last minute, as the pressure on rural professionals or suppliers may get higher the closer we get to the regulation date.
If you’re looking at making changes, do your homework and get several quotes.
For more information on milk cooling visit dairynz.co.nz/milking/the-milking-plant or talk to your milk supply company.
• Nick Tait is a DairyNZ developer.
DairyNZ says its plantain programme continues to deliver promising results, with new data confirming that modest levels of plantain in pastures reduce nitrogen leaching, offering farmers a practical, science-backed tool to meet environmental goals.
As an independent review of the National Pest Management Plan for TB finds the goal of complete eradication by 2055 is still valide, feedback is being sought on how to finish the job.
DairyNZ has pulled together tactics that will help farmers improve on-farm efficiency and have positive benefits for the environment. These tactics are based on research, data, and lessons from leading farmers.
The design and construction of an effective dairy effluent system is a complex process.
After serving three as a DairyNZ director, Waikato farmer Chris Lewis is ready for another term.
NZPork has appointed Auckland-based Paul Bucknell as its new chair.
The Government claims to have delivered on its election promise to protect productive farmland from emissions trading scheme (ETS) but red meat farmers aren’t happy.
Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.
The Ministry for the Environment is joining as a national award sponsor in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA from next year).
Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.
OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.
OPINION: Should cows in NZ be microchipped?
OPINION: Legislation being drafted to bring back the controversial trade of live animal exports by sea is getting stuck in the…
