welcomePAT GRACE SALES AND MARKETING MANAGER

Welcome to the first issue of our newsletter. Our aim is to bring you up to date with news about products that can help make your milking more efficient and better for you and your cows. We will also be using some industry experts to share some of their knowledge with us. It will give us a view of what’s happening around the industry and should help us share best practice. Feel free to let us know what you think. Part of our newsletters in the future will include your views.

All dairy farmers know the compromise between milking speed and gentle milking – and vacuum level is the single biggest influence on this balance. Ask a dairy farmer to increase vacuum and there will be immediate concerns about teat health.

The Impulse Air liner system challenges this compromise, by simply placing a vent in the mouthpiece of the liner to replace the vent in the claw.

The principal is relatively easy to understand. It prevents build-up of vacuum around the teat, and just allows the vacuum to do what it is meant to do at the teat end – extract the milk.

The concept is simple but the effects are significant. Teat condition significantly improves at existing vacuum conditions, and we open up the possibility of increasing vacuum to improve speed and milk-out without damaging the teat.

The bottom line is much reduced teat damage, healthier cows, improved milking speed and less agitation of the milk as it moves efficiently away from the teat.

The benefits do not end there. With air flow effectively behind the milk there is now a much smoother milk flow away from the teat, without any splash back.

challenging long held views

connecting to the cow ISSUE 1 / NOVEMBER 2013

MILKRITE NEWSLETTER

James Allcock, technical director at Precision Milking, describes how innovation in machine analysis can help improve herd performance…Having worked hard to develop a dairy herd and get farm management systems working well, many dairymen encounter problems when it comes to harvesting milk. When the milking machine starts and milk is flowing through the meters it is easy to believe that everything is well with the world and that the dairy farmer’s job is done.

However, recent scientific developments have shown that both milk yield and its compositional quality are heavily influenced by the mechanical processes we employ in extracting milk from cows two or three times a day.

Over the last century or so our industry has developed a milk harvesting mechanism that has the application of vacuum at its core. The general view has been, and still is, that this is the best approach for milking cows.

However, in the same period milk yields have risen and teats have changed shape significantly, possibly

without the corresponding changes in optimising milking mechanisms.

Milking machine manufacturers have been focused on developing more parlour automation and there has been very little attention given to the mechanics of the most critical area – where the teat meets the machine.

Many herdsmen are familiar with some of the more obvious signs of serious milking machine setup problems. Damaged teat ends with excess keratin or pronounced swelling and discolouration of the teat – seen for a few seconds when the unit comes off - are common indicators that all is not well. Remarkably it is rare for the stoical Holstein to show much sign of discomfort, but the subtle changes that affect cells in milk and the yield at next milking are often a hidden consequence of a poorly balanced machine.

It is now possible to get exactly the right milking balance of speed, gentleness and completeness and sensitive instruments are available to evaluate vacuums at critical points around the milking teat.

Companies such as Precision Milking (www.precisionmilking.com) offer a real time evaluation of liner performance during a milking and can work with you to optimise milk harvest and improve udder health. A three-visit process identifies areas of concern, suggests alterations to address problems and then checks that improvements are on track. The independent, vet-led nature of their approach means that advice looks at the entire milking machine situation and, frequently, solutions involve minimal changes instead of significant investment in new kit.

Whether it is too much pressure over teat ends or excessive vacuum around the mouthpiece, solutions such as Milkrite’s Impulse Air technology can frequently work alongside existing parlour technology and your local maintenance engineers. On other occasions manufacturers can be encouraged to tweak standard settings to suit your herds yield and type profile. The measurements and instruments can then be used to evaluate the benefits of any changes made.

Milkrite scoops prestigious Prince Philip Award at Livestock EventThe 2013 Prince Philip Award has been presented to Milkrite in recognition of the company’s continued research, development and innovation and the introduction of the new IP20-AIR milking machine liner, all of which are aimed at bringing health and productivity benefits to dairy cattle.

Milkrite receives innovation award at Space 2013!Milkrite has received the Innov’Space award 2013 for the introduction of its Cluster Exchange Scheme into France. This is fantastic news for Milkrite and recognises the innovation and benefits the service brings to dairy farmers.

The Cluster Exchange Service is a simple but effective scheme that makes liner change effortless and improves milking performance with the latest liner technology

Example of healthy teatsExamples of teats with hyperkeratosis

Balancing machine milking to improve yields and control cell counts

DiD you know?Over 1.9 million cows are milked with Impulse Air everyday

DiD you know?For every litre of milk produced a cow needs to drink at least 3 litres of water.

Test Results are in for Impulse Air Vented LinersA long term independent study in Belgium on 20 farms conducted by the MCC group has shown significant benefits from the use of Milkrite’s Impulse Air mouthpiece vented liners, clinical mastitis was reduced and both teat condition and milk quality improved.

Milk quality parameters on all 20 farms were assessed six months prior to fitting the new liners and compared with those six months after changing to help reduce any lactation stage effects.

Some examples of the impressive results are shown below:

Table 1 – Teat condition – hyperkeratosis, measured on over 1500 animals on the 20 farms

% teats with no hyperkeratosis

% teats thin hyperkeratosis

% teats thick hyperkeratosis

Pre trial 41 27 32

After 6 months 77 10 13

Table 2 – Other teat condition parameters, measured on over 1500 animals on the 20 farms

% wet teats % with ringing % flat teats % blue

teats% irritated teat end

Before 18 8 11 0 8

After 5 0 0 0 0

All measures of teat condition were improved. Bulk tank somatic cell counts reduced and the percentage of cows with high cell counts reduced significantly

Of the 20 farms in the study, 12 finished with fewer cases of clinical mastitis, while eight saw no change.

The lipolysis content of the milk decreased when using Impulse Air, showing that air introduced at the mouthpiece improves flow.

“These results clearly demonstrate that mouthpiece vented liners improve teat condition and milk flow - and that leads directly to reduced SCC and mastitis - and more comfortable milking for the cow and the dairy farmer” - says Pat Grace of Milkrite

Full test results are available on www.milkrite.co.uk

Changing Liners? It’s the least popular job in the parlour. How often do you put it off? Most farmers don’t deliberately overuse liners, but before you know it you are weeks overdue and you are starting to hear squawking liners and see more slip-offs – and that increases teat health problems for the next few weeks.

Cluster Exchange takes all the hassle out of the liner change. Now you can get the complete cluster; with liners, shells, claw and pulse tubes assembled and all ready to go. So the liner change now takes just a few minutes, not hours.

But that’s not all. We look after the claw for you – so now there are no more claw breakages to pay for.

We handle everything for you. So when your change is due, your next parlour set of clusters arrives. Simply replace the used clusters and put them in the box we provide and we pick them up. Its all part of the service – so no more hidden costs, or maintenance charges.

We have hundreds of farms on the scheme and one of the complements they give us is that now they never have to worry about liners anymore.

Contact us on 0870 731 5012

“It’s so simple”

WhaT dO OUr CUSTOmErS Say abOUT ImpUlSE aIr?

OrGaNIC daIry FarmEr IN GlOUCESTErShIrE - 60 cows

Liz has been winning awards for milk quality since 2011 so why would she switch to Impulse Air?

‘I could see it was a good idea – the mouthpiece vented liners looked good, the idea is simple, as is the exchange scheme. The clusters arrive when my change is due, I don’t have to worry – it’s like magic’

lIZ bEST VISTa VErdE daIry IN CalIFOrNIa - 3000 cows

Since using Impulse Air, Alex has found the teat end condition of his cows has improved and their somatic cell count has dropped. Even his milkers are happy with the system

‘It took time for the milkers to get used to the liners, like with any system but since switching to the Impulse air liner the milkers have got used to it and they like them because they stick on the cow’

alEX dE JaGEr

RMV Hardenberg, Netherlands 29-31 October 2013

DAnish DAiRy ExhibiTion Herning, Denmark 05-06 November 2013

bRiTish MAsTiTis ConFEREnCE Worcester, UK 13 November 2013

AGRibEx Brussel, Belgium 03-08 December 2013

RoyAl ulsTER winTER FAiR Belfast, Northern Ireland 12 December 2013

osnAbRüCkER hERDbuCh EG Melle, Germany 25 January 2014

sChAu DER bEsTEn Verden, Germany 26-27 February 2014

EVEnTsFAnTAsTiC PRoMoTion on iMPulsE shElls AnD wEiGhTs!Take advantage of our 50% off shell offer and our service set up for your farm!use the enclosed reply form to let us know if you want to receive any free samples + we will enter you automatically into a free draw to win a parlour of impulse Air liners.

www.milkrite.co.uk

Spotlight on Our Partners Milkrite works with a qualified dealer network. in this section we highlight one of our outlets trained to work with you to establish the right conditions for our impulse Air products. k & A are based in the south west of England:

At K & A Services Ltd, we are a family run Dairy Engineering business established in 2007. We have over 30 years of dairy/milking machine experience and 50 years of electrical and mechanical engineering experience. With a team of 6 qualified engineers to hit the road as and when needed. Our company has installed 20 rotary milking parlours and 18 herringbone parlours in 6 years.

We specialise in the installation, maintenance and servicing of dairy farms ranging from the largest farms at 1500 + cows, to the smallest throughout the south and southwest, supplying milking parlours, slurry equipment, feeding equipment and more. Our services include lighting and electrical installations, pump, slurry and separation systems, fabrication and welding, separation systems, teat sprays and flush systems and much more.

Contact K & a on their 24 hour number 07972 595 775

“We didn’t think we had any issues. OurSCC was always at or near the 130-150000.Since we are milking with Milkrite Impulse Airwe dropped in 3 months time to 80000! Thecows are super quiet, super smooth milkingand teat condition has improved “.

60 dairy cows, 10,600 kg. milk, 4.35% fat, 3.56% protein.

Milkrite is putting together an Elite Farm Group to demonstrate the benefits of Impulse Air. If you are interested in joining this group and benefiting from direct Milkrite support then contact us using the details on the return card.

Join MilkRiTE’s EliTE FARM GRouP

DiD you know?Milking with wet teats is a known cause of mastitis and lowers milk quality

NICO bONS, OTTOlaNd (Zh), NEThErlaNdS