Dairy Farming in Nova Scotia

Terms to Know Quota: A proportional share in a given market. Quota is required by most markets to regulate goods produced. Nova Scotia Milk Marketing Board: A regulatory board which sets the farm price for milk, administers the quota system, and represents milk producers in the province. Located in Truro, Nova Scotia. Bulk Tank: A refrigerated stainless steel tank used to cool milk quickly to around 2-4 degrees Celsius.

Terms to Know Colostrum: The first milk produced following calving. High in fat, protein, and natural antibiotics. Dry Cow: A cow that is not lactating or has completed it’s lactation period after calving. Often rebred. Fresh Cow: A cow that has recently given birth. Heifer: A female cow less than three years of age who has yet to give birth to a calf.

Terms to Know Mastitis: An inflammation happening in the udder of a dairy cow. Caused by bacteria. Milking Parlor: The sunken area which houses milking equipment and person milking. Teat Dip: A pre and post milking substance used to kill bacteria. Sterilization: The process of making an area free of living organisms such as bacteria. Essential in milk production.

The Barns Dairy barns in Nova Scotia traditionally take on two forms: tie stall and free stall. Tie stall barns consist of cows being tied in place using head stanchions and only removed for pasture grazing. These cows are milked in place. Free Stall barns are open concept which allow cows to roam within a closed space to eat and rest. These cows must be moved to a milking parlor for milking.

Tie Stall and Free Stall

The Barns (continued) Both styles of barn have their advantages and disadvantages. Tie Stall (Advantage): Cows are cleaner, easier to maintain barn, cows tend to have less injuries, less handling of cows during milking, barns can be smaller. Free Stall (Advantage): Cows are able to get more exercise, easier to detect breeding times (heats), air circulation is often better, easier to feed.

The Barns (continued) Tie Stall (Disadvantages): Milking can be harder on the people milking, cows can have feet and leg issues from lack of exercise, higher risk of farmer accidents, higher use of bedding materials such as sawdust. Free Stall (Disadvantages): Costly milking parlor is required, cows are dirtier, cows must be moved around more for milking, injury levels can be high from animal interaction, risk of stampeding, costly barn cleaners are needed.

The Milking In tie stall barns, milkers are moved from cow to cow. Cows are milked in their stalls. The people milking often use stools or crouch which milking. Cows are easily fed during milking which can keep cows calm and occupied. Cows legs, udders, and tails tend to be cleaner due to easier stall cleanup and maintenance. This makes for faster prepping before milking.

The Milking (continued) In free stall barns, cows are led into milking parlors at milking time (usually 12 or 18 depending on parlor size). The people milking stand down in a pit with cows feet and udders around chest heights. Cows need to be trained to enter and exit the parlor properly. Parlors can require much more handling of cattle as they move in and out of the milking area. Milking and cleaning are often easier on the people milking.

Milking

The Process Regardless of milking style, all farms must follow similar milking routines such as: 1) Cows are dipped with a cleaning solution (usually iodine) and wiped clean. 2) Cows are inspected for infections or injuries such as mastitus. Their milk is kept separate if treated. 3) Milkers are attached until the cow has milked out. 4) The cow is dipped with the cleaning solution once again (not wiped off) to prevent bacteria buildup between milkings.

The Process (continued) If cows are being treated with antibiotics, are sick, or have recently given birth, their milk must be contained separately. The milk of cows who have just given birth is called colostrum. This milk is yellow in color and is rich in nutrients and natural antibiotics. This colostrum is given to the new born calf to ensure it gets the nutrients needed for growth.

The Process Milk travels through pipelines to a large stainless steel bulk tank after passing through paper filters. Here, the milk is cooled using refrigeration units and agitators. Once the milk is cooled, it is picked up by large tanker trucks which ship the milk to a dairy processing plant for pasteurization, processing, and packaging.

The Process (continued) Once the milk had been shipped to the dairy, the milking equipment, pipeline, milking area, and bulk tank must be sanitized. This is done by using chlorine, industrial soaps, and acid. The sanitization must remove all milk particles and bacteria from all equipment. If not done, the dairy farm may be shut down by the department of health and safety.

The Dairy Once the milk is picked up from the farms, it is driven to local dairies for processing. (Nova Scotia has two main dairies: Farmers and Scotsburn). When the milk arrives, each truck is tested for contamination and temperature of milk. The milk is then pumped into the plant for pasteurization. Pasteurization involves heating the milk to 71.7 degrees Celsius for approximately 30 seconds to kill all bacteria and microbes.

The Dairy (continued) Once the milk has been pasteurized, it is cooled in refrigerated tanks to avoid spoilage. The raw milk is then processed to separate cream and milk. This processing divides the milk into milk fat grades such as skim, 1 percent, 2 percent, homogenized (3.25), whipping cream, coffee cream, etc… In some dairies, cream and milk fat are separated for the production of cheese, yogurt, butter, etc…

In Summary Dairy farming is an essential part to agriculture and food production in Nova Scotia. It is the largest earner of farm cash receipts in the province with a gross profit of $118 million.

End of Section Questions 1) What are the two most popular types of dairy barn in Nova Scotia? Make a chart describing some of the positives and negatives for each. 2) When milking, what are the four steps taken? 3) What is pasteurization? 4) What are some of the reasons certain milk can be separated from the bulk tank?