Modernization of the milking system with a device for express analysis of milk quality

Milking systems used in Russia have the potential to be upgraded with devices for in-line control of milk quality parameters. Monitoring the composition of milk and tracking anomalies in the concentration of somatic cells in real time is especially important for rapid response to changes in the parameters of the physiological state of animals and timely intervention before low-quality milk enters the common reservoir. This paper provides an example of the modernization of the “Herringbone” milking system with the function of evaluating the quality of milk during milking. The milk quality express analysis device used to modernize the milking system is optical and does not affect the flow of milk in the milk hose of the milking system. The device allows for in-line analysis of the percentage concentration of fat and quantitative analysis of the concentration of somatic cells in milk with a threshold detection level of 900–1000 thousand cells / ml, analyzing a flow volume of up to 6 liters/min. In the study, the operability of the device to analyze raw cow′s milk with two different fat content parameters — 2.53% and 3.16% and a concentration of 1 × 10 6 somatic cells per 1 ml was evaluated in two stages. As a result of the experiment, the average value ± standard deviation of fat content was (2.75 ± 0.16)% and (3.37 ± 0.20)%, and somatic cells were (0.096 ± 0.007) cu and (0.102 ± 0.006) cu, which corresponds to the range of 900–1000 thousand cells / ml. The errors of the average values of the measured fat content of milk amounted to 0.2–0.3% of the fat content of the measured milk. The maximum coefficient of variation for fat content measurements is 6%, and for qualitative analysis of somatic cells — 7%, which demonstrates the stability of the device and the success of the modernization of the milking system. In the future, the improvement of the system providing on-line monitoring of the milking process will continue.