Milk Monitoring ‘key to driving quality and efficiency’, study finds
Milk vat/tank monitoring technology being used on a mobile device in a dairy.
A study in New Zealand has found that adopting Milk Vat (Tank) Monitoring (MVM) technology can significantly increase the quality of milk stored on farm, including reducing total bacteria counts across a milk pool by almost 70%.
The study, carried out by the New Zealand Exchange (NZX) and based on project data provided by Fonterra® and Levno®, also found a 62% reduction in milk reaching critical scores and a 45% drop in insurance claims – highly contributed to by the 85% lower likelihood to claim insurance for refrigeration, agitation, or power related failures – by adapting the technology.
The technology could bring about the same improvements in the UK, dairy experts claim.
The rollout of MVM was launched by Fonterra in part to drive up milk quality, along with other on-farm and transport related benefits, and the study was supported by Fonterra to help quantify the improvement in milk quality.
Fonterra is a New Zealand dairy Co-operative owned by thousands of dairy farmers. The study involved introducing monitoring telemetry to the milk vats or tanks of Fonterra’s farmer owners and comparing the data, from a subset of almost 1200 farms, to the year prior to the technology being introduced.
The most popular MVM platforms used in the study were Levno’s Trim and Full Cream solutions, with the latter providing a 24-7-365 escalated human response service. This alerts farmers to potential problems with their milk within 10 minutes of detection and continues to monitor the data until the situation is resolved.
The study data was independently analysed by New Zealand Exchange (NZX).
It revealed that Levno’s Full Cream product reduced total bacteria counts by 69% compared to storing milk without MVM technology. Coliforms were down 42% as a result of installing MVM technology and insurance claims dropped by 45% in total.
Milk temperature was on average 12% lower using Full Cream, with 19% fewer collections made above 12oC and almost none above 14oC.
Milk quality was also assessed against Fonterra’s Milk Quality Index (MQI) which uses multiple data points to plot the degradation of the milk.
The measure is used to plan logistics and downstream processing of the milk, and to drive efficiencies in collection.
The study found that by implementing Levno’s Full Cream, farms achieved 22% fewer medium MQI scores, 26% fewer high MQI scores, and 62% fewer critical MQI scores.
According to NZX, the average value of ‘milk saved’ as a result of implementing MVM technology equated to NZD$12,863 per farm.
The objective of the study was to confirm that the introduction of MVM, technology, and Levno’s Full Cream solution, would drive material and sustainable improvements in milk quality.
Results found that after analysing the data provided, it is clear that the introduction of MVM technology improved the on-farm milk storage process and reduced the risk of degraded milk being supplied to Fonterra.
Multiple measures helped to corroborate this outcome – from the MQI measure during storage, milk temperatures at the time of collection, bacteria and coliform results, and the number of insurance claims by farmers. Importantly, there was also a significant reduction in the upper quartile of those measures with fewer outliers.
Additionally, the Full Cream solution further improves the quality of milk stored on farm and reduces the amount that may require disposal due to poor storage practices. The advance in technology has changed the way on-farm raw milk is monitored, and therefore protected.
The end result is better quality milk with significantly fewer instances of milk being registered as ‘critical’ on Fonterra’s MQI score.
James McCreery, national planning & dispatch manager at Fonterra, said: “We are providing tools to our farmer owners to continue to help them be the best dairy farmers in the world, and Levno is a tool for them to ensure they are supplying the best quality milk possible.”
He added one of the greatest strengths of Fonterra’s partnership with Levno has been the people.
“They brought in a lot of experience working with New Zealand farmers,” James said.
“They also have got the 24/7 support team. The people at Levno make a big difference.”
Matt Lynch, Levno’s country manager for UK and Ireland, said the study demonstrated how Full Cream brought major financial benefits to Fonterra’s farm suppliers.
For example, Levno’s Full Cream has saved almost 2.3 million litres across Fonterra farms during the latest 2023-24 milking season, averaging 6,800 litres per farm.
He said: “Full Cream helped the farmers who took part in the study produce higher quality milk and avoid the significant revenue loss associated with milk degradation and wastage.
“It also helped them avoid costly incidents where milk was not fit for collection and where an insurance claim was required for the loss. With each claim attracting an average excess of $500, that’s a huge saving.
“With dairy farmers in the UK facing a reduction in support payments, technologies like MVM offer new ways to bring efficiencies to dairy enterprises which will help drive the long-term sustainability of the industry.
“The ability to monitor milk quality in real time and resolve issues quickly means less degradation, less wastage and ultimately, a better return for producers.”
To read the full detail and explanation of findings click here.
