A farm decides on its own what its milk quality is. Wait, what? That’s right – the choices made daily determine milk quality. High-quality milk doesn’t happen by accident; it’s the result of intentional decisions in three key areas: 1) the people on the farm, 2) the environment the cows live in and 3) the tools provided to both the employees and the cows to ensure success. Let’s break it down.
1. The people of the farm: Your most valuable asset
The foundation of any farm’s milk quality is its team. Employees are at the heart of every aspect of milk production and cow comfort, from milking procedures to cow care. Their knowledge, motivation and engagement play a critical role.
- Onboarding: Properly introducing new employees to the farm’s expectations sets the tone for success. A thorough onboarding process ensures they understand their role and the importance of milk quality from the start. Clarity in expectations is a must from the first engagement in conversation to bring a new employee to the team.
- Value and appreciation: Employees who feel valued perform better. Simple gestures, such as saying “thank you,” a daily morning greeting, acknowledging hard work and involving employees in decision-making, show that they are an integral part of the farm’s success. Those are just a few small examples that can make a difference in retention and employee growth.
- Training and feedback: Continued education helps employees stay sharp and adapt to new challenges. Regular feedback – both constructive and positive – encourages growth and shows your commitment to their success.
- Integrity and relationship building: Treating employees with respect, fairness and honesty fosters a culture of trust and loyalty toward management and the team. When employees feel respected and valued, they’re more likely to take pride in their work.
2. The environment: Where quality begins
A cow's environment plays a pivotal role in milk quality, maybe even the highest. Think of a cow’s udder like a sponge in your kitchen. Imagine cleaning up spilled juice with a sponge, then wringing it out into the sink. Now, picture a cow spending most of her life lying on bedding that is high in bacterial counts or in alleyways not cleaned as frequently as they should be – her udder will absorb that manure or bug load like that sponge from the kitchen, with the udder acting as the method of transfer from her living quarters to the bulk tank. Attention to bedding, floor hygiene and parlor sanitation is essential.
- Bedding: Keeping her bedding clean, dry and low in bacteria count – not only just on a visually clean level but on a microbiological level as well – is quite often a missed key point.
- Environmental hygiene: Manure-loaded floors not only increase the risk of injury but also contribute to poor udder health. Scraping and cleaning alleys and holding areas frequently reduce bacterial exposure and improve overall cleanliness. Dirty cows will drag manure along with them wherever they go, including into the parlor and back into her living quarters.
- Parlor hygiene: The parlor is where everything comes together, and sanitation must be a top priority. Clean equipment, proper milking procedures and compliance, and attention to detail during milk harvest all ensure that milk leaves the udder as clean as possible.
3. The tools: Empowering people to succeed
Even the best employees can’t guarantee high milk quality without the right tools. Technology and new research are great and lots of capital can be spent on both, but at the end of the day, the cow just needs the basic things in life to succeed. Tools are the bridge between people and processes.
- Cow comfort: Comfortable stalls, good footing, cow cooling and ventilation all reduce stress and cortisol levels within cows, improving their overall health and milk production.
- Equipment: Tools such as a teat prep system, liners, dips, pulsation and cleaning solutions play a huge role in reducing bacterial counts, increasing cow comfort and ensuring clean milk, but if these tools are not properly taken care of or managed properly from a user standpoint, you may as well not even be using them. This also includes larger capital items, such as skid loaders or gates, being properly maintained. As frustrating as it gets at times when a cow mover blows through a gate, how you handle the situation with the employee and repair the damage afterward shows the team that the dairy truly cares.
- Training: Our people need training. Training is sometimes viewed as an extra chore that we need to do or something that, at times, is not necessary. Instead, this mindset should be that a dairy is providing the training as a tool, the same as we provide them with dip cups to do the job properly. We wouldn’t dare think about not providing a mechanic with a set of wrenches, so why would we not arm our teams with proper training on how to properly take care of cows?
You don't need a PhD
Milk quality isn’t rocket science, but it does require consistent attention to the three pillars of people, environment and tools. Farms that focus on these areas – valuing their employees, creating a clean and comfortable environment for cows, and investing in the right tools – set themselves up for success.
Remember, milk quality isn’t decided by outside factors most times; it is determined every day by the choices made on the farm. By prioritizing these areas, any dairy can produce high-quality milk that meets and exceeds industry standards.
