Hazel Gilmore, Ian Latimer and Richard Walker, Higher National Diploma Students, Greenmount Campus, CAFRE.

CREAM, Greenmount Campus’ (CAFRE) student led project provides Higher National Diploma Agriculture and Agricultural Technology Degree students with the unique opportunity to manage a high genetic merit Holstein herd. The herd is milked three times a day, with students carrying out the routine tasks including milking, feeding and breeding decisions.

Since the introduction of the new Bactoscan method of hygienic quality analysis, CREAM has been achieving consistently low readings with an average of 10,000 cells per ml. This is well within the Excellent classification of hygienic quality control set out by United Dairy Farmers and can be attributed to the attention to detail concept adopted by the students.

Current practices adopted by the CREAM students to enhance hygienic milk quality include: -

·Cubicles are bedded with sawdust after every milking and limed every other day.

·When cows come into the parlour they are pre-dipped with active foam, wiped dry (with a new sheet for each cow), and fore milked to check for visual signs of mastitis. When milked, the cows’ teats are sealed with a barrier teat dip to prevent contact with bacteria and are prevented access to cubicles for up to 30 minutes.

·Disposable gloves are worn by milking personnel to prevent the further spread of bacteria and a new pair is used at each milking.

·The bulk tank is scrubbed internally once a week.

·The milking equipment is thoroughly cleaned after every milking and hot washed systematically, the parlour is thoroughly washed after every milking.

·Milking parlour and equipment are maintained and serviced on a monthly basis to ensure vacuum and pulsation rates are correct to prevent teat damage.

As students it is our aim to maintain our high level of hygienic standards and it is hoped that if we proceed with our current practices a low bactocount can be maintained in the future.

Pictured above,Hazel Gilmore (HND 3), Ian Latimer (HND 1) and Richard Walker (HND 1).