Milk Quality and Volume
Monitoring the entire milk lifecycle is vital to ensuring a high quality product. Dairy farmers around the world all share the requirement to monitor their milk storage temperatures, monitor wash-out and handle the logistics of tanker collection. The automated milk monitoring solution from BayCity Technologies has the answer.
Traditionally, the first notice a farmer had of a high bacteria count in his milk was when the processing or tanker company advised of the problem. This could be two milkings after the pickup and the most recently picked up milk, all being dumped. The financial impact of this to both the farmer and the processing company is significant, as is the environmental impact of dumping large volumes of milk.
With the BayCity Technologies solution, a system of hardware and software is installed at each milk vat to record the inlet temperature, if there is a requirement to pre-chill milk before it goes into the bulk tank. Alternatively, this sensor can be used to record the temperature of the pipe lines back to the milking station during the wash out cycle. Alerts can be set to activate if a pre-described temperature or duration is not met.
Bulk storage tank temperature and the milk temperature in the bulk tank are also measured. If this is not kept at a low temperature (4 to 6ºC) then the bacteria count starts to increase, causing the milk to go off and be unusable.
The bulk tank volume, simply how much milk is in the bulk tank is also measured.
By combining all three elements, enables the farmer to record an accurate summary of milk temperature and volume. From this summary, alerts to the farmer and/or processing company to quality issues before they impact either party financially.
For example, alerts can be set to trigger at a defined chilling rate, enabling the farmer to know if the milk is not being chilled to the correct temperature which would put milk quality at risk.
Using all three sensors, the farmer and/or milk processing company can monitor:
Wash cycle monitoring
- Duration and temperature
- Pass/fail against co-operative rules
- Alerting for failed wash
Temperature profiling
- Cooling profile following milking
- Milk over temperature profile
Milking completion
- Time of milking start and finish
- Pickup required notification
- Recording of milking volume
Pickup
- Time of pickup
- Recording of pickup volume
- Notification of incomplete pickup
Power-loss
- Notification of mains power loss
With alerts, even the farm owners are able to monitor the wash-out cycles and milk quality without doing the activity themselves. It also allows the farmer to assess the efficiency of the refrigeration equipment and be alerted of any failures. For the processing company, they can see that the farmer is maintaining good milk quality and also see the volume ready to be picked up, thereby increasing truck fleet efficiencies.
A secondary benefit the system offers is the ability to send alerts to a service company that has contracts to maintain refrigeration equipment. A reported incident occurred during trials where the farmer was working on the other side of his farm. The refrigeration broke down and the refrigeration company received an alert, went to the farm and repaired the chiller unit and was met by the farmer as they were leaving the property. The serviceman explained the situation. The farmer was thrilled, the service company got a big thank you.
Upgradeable to connect multiple vats together on the BayCity Farm Area Network (FAN) wireless mesh network.
PDF Milk Quality and Volume - Case Study - 127kB
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Monitoring Solutions 
