With the new milk cooling legislation coming into from in 2018, dairy farmers can expect a log jam as local suppliers of milk cooling systems will struggle to keep up with demand. As of June 1 2018, raw milk must be cooled to 10 degrees Celsius or below within four hours of the start of milking. This rule was introduced by the Minister for Primary Industries and is driven by international trading partners expectations. Below is the summary of the new regulations:
- milk must be cooled to 10°C or below within four hours of the commencement of milking; and
- milk must be cooled to 6°C or below within the sooner of:
i) six hours from the commencement of milking, or
ii) two hours from the completion of milking; and - milk must be held at or below 6°C without freezing until collection or the next milking; and
- milk must be below 18°C going into the vat and milk must not exceed 10°C during subsequent milkings
These changes bring the New Zealand Dairy industry into line with what is happening internationally. Keeping the milk entering the vat at 18°C can easily be achieved by using precooling.
James Thomas Director of DairyChill said "Its getting closer to the cut over date and we recommend farmers take action now rather than wait until the last minute to avoid a log jam. As it gets closer to June 1, it will get harder to find a supplier that has the capacity to do the work as there is a limit to the resources in milking cooling industry. We would strongly advise anyway who hasn't planned for this change to take action now".
To get yourself at the front of the que, you can book an inspection of your current milk cooling system here:
http://www.dairychill.co.nz/free-10-point-inspection
or call DairyChill on
0800 324455