Arla examines milk quality

Arla Foods, nowadays number seven in the world dairy league, is owned by 7000 farmers in Denmark, Sweden and Germany. The fact that these farmers are amongst the most technologically advanced in Europe brings problems as well as advantages for the 9 billion kg milk per year processor, which last year reported a turnover of EUR6.54 billion.
For example, over 30% of the milk it buys from its Danish farmer-members is milked by state-of-the-art robot systems. But this milk is proving to have higher than normal levels of free fatty acids (FFA), which in turn can lead to off-flavours in the milk and its products. Arla Foods Research Platform Manager Dr Jacob Holm Nielsen explained the situation at a recent DSM Ruminant Symposium in Italy.
Basically, FFA features disruption of fat globule membranes in the milk. Research so far in the Netherlands (Wageningen UR Animal Science Group) and Denmark indicates that long pipeline transport of milk immediately after milking could play a role in disruption of the fat globule membranes. Other factors identified: excessive mixing of air and milk during transportation from cow to bulk tank, but also multiple milkings per day – three times or more. The Dutch research also indicates that certain cattle feeds and feed regimes could have something to do with the increased incidence of FFA.
But the finger points mainly at robot milking systems because of the technology involved and the associated shorter intervals between milking.
Dr Nielsen reckons one of the main problems is lack of purpose-built housing for robot systems. “We think this problem has arisen because many robot systems are fitted into existing barns. Sometimes this results in milk having to be pumped for more than 100 m to the bulk tank and this is where the damage is taking place.”