Leon

Leon the Milkman has a B.Sc majoring in Food Science And Chemistry. Having had stints in most food industries, his love for dairy won and he has been working in the dairy industry in the Western Cape Province of South Africa since 1997. He is a Research Tech. and presents regular Cheese and Yoghurt Making Courses.

Organic or not?

Published May 7, 2006 | By Leon

Hi, Milk Fans

Seems that some guys are trying to pass some milk for organic – and they want us to trust them. You are hurting us all – stop that!

How bad is hydrated lime on your skin?

Published May 6, 2006 | By Leon

Hi, Milk Fans

It’s bad, it’s bad, it’s very,very bad.

Hydrated lime or Calcium Hydroxide reacts very fast with moisture and will even react with the moisture in your skin, so cover up hand and eyes.

However, once the reaction between the milk and the lime is completed and the milkpaint is dry, everything is safe again.

Regards,

Leon the Milkman

P.S. Here is a very informative link about lime:

http://oikos.com/library/naturalbuilding/lime.html

Sampling from a milktank

Published May 5, 2006 | By Leon

Hi, Milk Scientists

When doing sampling from a milk tank to determine milk composotion, it is important that you sample from either the top or the bottom every time, even if you think that the milk was stirred enough – be consistent.

Also be aware that a round tank will probably only need 5 minutes of stirring, but a long/rectangular tank will need 10 minutes, because the milk do not build up momentum in those tanks.

Regards,

Leon the Milkman

Check this out:

Results of milk samples submitted for microbiological examination in Wisconsin from 1994 to 2001 : An article from: Journal of Dairy Science

Mastitis

Published May 4, 2006 | By Leon

Hi, Milk People

Mastitis occurs when harmful bacteria enter the cow’s udder through the teat canal. Usually only one or two quarters are infected(cow has four quarters/parts to her udder).

Mastitis lowers milk production and the cow can become ill and die from it.

Cows get infected by other cows, the environment, like manure, soil and water.

Mastitis can be controlled by cleaning the udder before and after milking, by cleaning the equipment, by feeding the cows well and treating sick cows before things get out of hand.

Â

Kind regards,

Leon the Milkman

Bovine mastitis

Long Weekend

Published May 3, 2006 | By Leon

Hi, Milkfans

As you can see, we had a good and decent long weekend here in South Africa.

Yes, even the milkman. 😉

I’ll soon be up to normal pace again.

Regards,

Leon the Milkman

Â

Disadvantage Milk Paint

Published April 27, 2006 | By Leon

Hi, Milkfans

The only disadvantage I can think of is that the milk paint is a denatured protein stain and therefore will not be removed by normal solvents and even water-based solvents.

So no stripping – but you can paint it over. Not a problem when you paint the kids’ building blocks, because you won’t want to change their colour too often 😉

Kind regards,

Leon the Milkman

Grazing Dairies Are Making More Money

Published April 27, 2006 | By Leon

Hi, Dairy Farmers

When it comes to household income, farming background and technology use, dairy farmers who use managed grazing aren’t all that different from farmers who operate more traditional dairy enterprises. In fact, they tend to be more profitable. That’s according to a new report from the UW-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems and Program on Agricultural Technology Studies. The groups compared production systems, technology, labor, performance and satisfaction with quality of life on grazing dairy farms and more conventional dairy farms.

Read the rest of the article here:

http://www.wisconsinagconnection.com/story-state.cfm?Id=498&yr=2006

Regards,

Leon the Milkman

Milk pH

Published April 26, 2006 | By Leon

Hi, Milkfans

The pH of milk should ideally be between 6.60 and 6.75.

When milk pH goes into the 6.5’s it is considered to be turning sour and above 6.80 there is reason to suspect mastitis(udder infection) or alkaline soaps – usually because of insufficient rinsing of tanks after cleaning.

Regards,

Leon the Milkman

How to use Pearson’s Square

Published April 25, 2006 | By Leon

Hi, Milk Scientists

Need to know how much milk to mix with another to get a certain butterfat %?

Use the Pearson Square or the “milk butterfat square”. Subtract diagonally and convert to the positive if not. Mix the parts as calculated and you will get the center value ( the one you wanted ).

In this example 2/3 of the final volume of the 4% milk must be added to 1/3 of the 1% milk to get 3% milk. So if you wanted 1000 L of 3% milk, then you would need 666 L of 4% milk and add that to 333 L of 1% milk.

This also works well for juices with different concentrations (Brix).

Kind regards,

Leon the Milkman

Remaining milk – calculation

Published April 24, 2006 | By Leon

Hi, Dairy Scientists

You start off with 3.8% butterfat and you skim off to 2% – what is the volume of milk remaining?

Let us say you started off with 1000 liters of milk and your resulting cream has a butterfat of 40%

3.8% – 2% = 1.8% difference per part

1.8% x 1000 liters = 1800 parts of fat to be removed

1800 Ã· 40% = 45 liters of cream

1000 liters – 45 liters = 955 liters of milk remaining.

Don’t ask me why or how – this is the way to do it – agreed?

Semi-convinced,

Leon the Milkman