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Milk
for human consumption is required to meet specific standards for
quality (fat, protein and lactose content) and hygiene (somatic
cell count and total bacterial count or bactoscan). If these standards
are not met the milk may not be legally sold. Within these standards
the price paid for the milk will be determined by its quality and
will also depend on hygiene bands achieved.
If
a client is not achieving premium payments for his or her milk we
can investigate the reasons for this and help them to produce milk
of a quality that will attract these payments. Such an investigation
might involve analysing the incidence of mastitis in the herd, the
tube usage, the individual somatic cell counts of the cows and reviewing
the milking routine and the environment in which the cows live.
Milk samples from individual cows and from the bulk tank can be
examined in our laboratory to assess
the numbers of bacteria present and to identify them. This can help
us to identify the cause of any problem and testing the antibiotic
sensitivities of the bacteria isolated can help us decide on the
most appropriate treatment for affected cows.
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