Quality counts for Zuidemas

YANAKIE dairy farmers Ashley and Deidre Zuidema have been recognised in the Dairy Australia milk quality awards for the sixth year in a row.
The awards recognise farms that have the achieved the best milk quality in Australia based on their annual average bulk milk cell count (BMCC).
This year, the Zuidema’s received a gold award for being in the top 100 farms in Australia.
The Murray Goulburn supplier’s milk 160 predominantly Friesian cows on 170 acres.
Mr Zuidema said having a low BMCC is a good indication the herd is healthy.
“To start with, 10 to 15 years ago, we used to sometimes fluctuate above 250,000 cells/ml, so our aim was to stay below that level,” Mr Zuidema said.
“Now it happens we are well below it.”
The Zuidema’s herd averages around 60,000 to 70,000 cells/ml.
When it comes to keeping mastitis incidences down in his herd, Mr Zuidema said good tracks and laneways help.
“It is good to not get lots of mud in the shed but sometimes you can’t help that,” he said.
“We get our machines serviced every year to replace all the liners and the rubber ware in the shed and I wear gloves when milking, which helps reduce the spread of infection if mastitis is present in the herd.”
Mr Zuidema said it is when the cows first calve they are most likely to get mastitis.
“If you can prevent it then and for the first month after calving, you are well on the way to preventing mastitis,” he said.
Dairy Australia program development manager – animal health and fertility Erika Oakes said milk quality across Australia was continually improving each year.
“This year we have recorded some very low average bulk milk cell counts across Australia,” she said.
“There’s many familiar names who have celebrated high milk quality success for many years which is a real credit to them.”
A higher milk cell count generally occurs with mastitis, which in turn impacts milk quality and what products the milk can be used to make.
Ms Oakes said while milk quality was constantly improving each year, it was important farmers remained vigilant.
“Controlling mastitis and maintaining milk quality is a constant issue farmers need to remain on top of – they can’t afford to become complacent about it,” she said.
“Reducing mastitis on-farm improves cow comfort and welfare, saves time at milking and considerable money in terms of lost milk production and animal treatments.”

Healthy herd: Yanakie dairy farmers Deidre and Ashley Zuidema have been recognised in the Australian milk quality awards for the sixth year in a row.

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Posted by Sarah Vella on Jul 19 2016. Filed under Rural News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry