Milk collection

How to transport raw milk to the dairy plant

After milking, milk should be cooled and stored in the milk room of the farm or dairy plant. Milk for industrial processing can be transported to the dairy plant by the farmers themselves, or it can be picked up at the dairy plant. In both cases, it is possible to contract out these collection activities to third parties, for example, professional transporters.

Due to organizational or economic difficulties, it may not be possible to cool the milk on the farm. In areas far away from the dairy plant it may be troublesome to collect milk and take it directly to the plant. In such cases, especially if there are many small suppliers, it is be preferable to take milk first to a collection point, and then transport it from there to the dairy plant or milk collection centre.

Transport  from farm to dairy.

Can collection

Milk that is available in cans, whether on the farm or at the collection point, can be picked up and transported by many convenient means of transportation (bicycles, small barrows or trucks). The cans should be protected against the sun, both while they are at the roadside awaiting collection and during transportation.

It is advisable to use insulated, or even refrigerated trucks to transport cooled milk in cans over long distances and under high ambient temperatures. When there are many individual suppliers, there are many different types of milk cans, providing logistic and cleaning problems. It is therefore advisable to use standard shape milk cans with a smooth surface.

Bulk collection

Milk available from the farm in bulk, for instance from farm cooling tanks, should also be picked up in bulk. It is not a good practice to use cans to transport milk that is already available in bulk (storage) tanks, because there is an extra risk of contamination. Furthermore, the temperature of milk in cans is more difficult to control than milk in bulk, and filling, emptying and cleaning of milk cans demands much labour and is costly.

Truck-mounted tanks or road tankers can be used for the transport of milk in bulk. The tanks should be insulated and may be covered by a shield to protect against strong sunshine. On the farm, or at the collection centre, the loading hose from a milk transport truck is connected to the outlet valve on the storage tank, and the milk is pumped over.

Pumping is stopped as soon as the cooling tank has been emptied, thereby preventing air from being mixed into the milk. The tanker is fitted with a flow meter and pump so that the volume is automatically recorded. In other cases, the storage tank has to be calibrated to make dip-stick measurements reliable.

The tank of the bulk collection vehicle is divided into a number of compartments in order to prevent the milk from slushing around during transportation.

Milk transport truck (Tetra Pak 1995).                         

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Milk collection points and centres

In scarcely-populated areas, or areas where individual suppliers are far away from the dairy plant and difficult to reach, milk has to be transported over long distances. Transportation to the dairy plant will also take much time. In these cases, it is advisable to collect and coo in a l the milk collection centre (MCC) before transportation takes place.
	Uncooled milk will be brought to the collection centre (Tetra Pak 1995).

The difference between a collection point and a MCC is mainly based on cooling and size. A milk collection point can be a small, central place where small suppliers can deliver their milk. The reception capacity is likely to be between 50 – 500 litres a day in cans or milk containers. There is no cooling equipment present at the milk collection point, so the milk should be collected and brought to the MCC within two hours after milking. At the MCC, there is always cooling equipment and, in most cases, quality testing facilities. The milk must be collected and cooled to < 4 °C not later than three hours after milking has been completed. The reception capacity of a collection centre is generally between 500 and 16 000 litres/day.

MCC ground plan  Milk route  Farmer soute  Farm supply

Example of a MCC

Farmer with milk cans Taking sample Milk analasis Weighing Dump tank Pre-cooling Heat recovery unit Condensing unit Storage/cooling tank Milk transport to the dairy andentrace for goods Milk can cleaner Drying frame for  cans  Farm supply shop  Publication board Office MCC manager Storage goods Toilet

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Logistic advantages

Transporting cooled milk from a storage tank at a farm or collection centre has many advantages. It enables the plant to organise an efficient system of collection and transportation.                           

Since the milk has been cooled, it can be picked up at the farm or the collection centre at any hour of the day, without the risk of spoilage. In contrast, uncooled milk must be picked up as quickly as possible after milking, which leads to peak hours in the operation.

Each type of collection has its own advantages. Can collection is for small farms; bulk collection is for larger suppliers; and there are combinations with transport tanks for farms in between.

The most important issue is that milk must be cooled as quickly as possible. Once this has been accomplished, all parties (farmer, dairy and consumer) will benefit.

Summary

1. Milk cooling requires an adequate supply of electricity and water. These are not always available on the farm and sometimes can only be arranged at relatively high costs.

2. Even though electricity and water may be available, the volume of daily milk production may be too small to justify a cooling system, and it would be too expensive to cool a small amount of milk on the farm and too expensive to collect it. Due to regulations, smaller amounts of milk are sometimes cooled on the farm, but this milk is then expensive to transport. In such cases, it is possible to transport the cooled milk in an insulated vessel to a collecting point, where a tanker collects milk from several suppliers.

3. Bulk collection of milk on farms not only requires a supply of water, electricity and a certain daily production of milk, but also good road access for milk transport trucks.

4. If a dairy intends to introduce bulk collection of cooled milk in areas with many low producing farms (and where the milk is not cooled), substantial resources are required.

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