Production Processes

Barns are shelters for dairy animals. One of the basic conditions for obtaining healthy animals and herds is that the animal shelters and their surroundings (farm/pasture) must be clean and free from disease agents.

All applications aimed at preventing disease agents from entering and spreading into animal living spaces are called biosecurity applications. Barn hygiene is also included in the scope of biosecurity measures and should include all stages from sheltering area location selection, plan, structural features and applications to waste and environmental control and should cover all cleaning measures to be taken to protect health. The design, planning and conditions of the places where animals are sheltered should not adversely affect the health of the animals. It should be in accordance with the “Regulation on Establishment, Operation and Inspection Procedures and Principles of Livestock Enterprises (RG: 9.8.2006/26254). General barn hygiene should be provided before milking hygiene. Barns should have the following features for healthy animals and reliable raw milk production.

• The barn structure must be suitable for the health and well-being of the animals.
• The barn must be adequately ventilated or fresh air must be continuously provided.
• The floor should be constructed in a way that prevents animals from slipping, falling and getting injured.
• Animal stalls must allow animals to have access to sufficient feed and water.
• Stalls should be designed in a way that does not harm the breast tissue of the animals.
• Daily cleaning of the stables should be carried out in the morning and disinfected with an approved disinfectant in a planned manner. A disinfectant pool should be placed at the entrances and exits of the stables.
• The barn and its surroundings should be regularly sprayed against pests and rodents and precautions should be taken. When it is necessary to resort to chemical pest control measures, care should be taken to ensure that these products are permitted and approved for use in food businesses.
• Waste and manure should be transported in a controlled manner to safe places away from the barn, milking areas and pastures and should not cause diseases.
• Stable water must be clean and of drinking quality.
• Feeders must be clean and in sufficient numbers, and animal feed must be purchased from factories approved by the relevant ministry.
• Feed storage areas should be clean, stored according to the first-in, first-out plan, and biosecurity practices should also apply here.
• Entry of other types of animals (especially sheep, goats, poultry) into the shelters should be prevented.
• Barn lighting must be provided at an adequate level.

Under normal conditions, milk from the udder tissue of a healthy dairy animal does not carry microorganisms that may pose a risk to human health. However, if the dairy animal whose milk is used is not healthy, the milk secreted from the udder may pose a risk. The fact that animals and humans have common living spaces and that animal products (milk and dairy products) constitute the main source of human nutrition also brings with it some risks.

Because, in general terms, zoonotic diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans and from humans to animals are important in such cases. Many of these diseases can endanger public health by being transmitted to humans through direct contact with animals and/or contaminated animal products (milk, meat, leather, etc.) or from environmental sources (barns, personnel, tools and equipment).

Among these disease agents, we can count bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites and prions.

Milk and its products may be infected with disease agents such as tuberculosis, brucellosis, rabies, salmonellosis, listeriosis, Q-fever, Tickborne encephalitis (TBE) virus, toxoplasmosis, anthrax, hepatitis, norovirus infections, leptospirosis, pasteurellosis, etc. Animals raised for milk production and other farm animals must be farms and animals that are officially approved by the authorities to be free from brucellosis and tuberculosis.

In this context, health checks of dairy animals should be carried out regularly by veterinarians, records should be kept, and animals should be vaccinated by making a vaccination plan as a precaution against diseases.

In addition, careful attention should be paid to the udder health of animals. Animal and herd health is important for ensuring and sustaining quality in raw milk production, and the health status of all animals on the farm should be checked regularly, and those who are sick or need special care and treatment should be separated when necessary and their records should be kept regularly.

Milking personnel is an extremely important factor in raw milk cleanliness. First of all, milking personnel should not be sick, those with chronic skin diseases or acute diarrhea, fever, etc. should not be involved in milking.

Milking personnel play an important role in spreading microorganisms from the environment to the cow and between teats, especially through cross-contamination.

• Therefore, milking personnel should be cleanly dressed, have clean hands and nails, clean clothes and, if possible, use a clean apron during milking.
• Milking personnel should wash their hands before and after a milking-related activity, then dry them with a paper towel.
• A milking practice guideline that milking personnel can easily understand should be prepared on the farm and milking personnel should be trained according to this protocol.

At the end of milking, milk that is milked into the jugs should be taken out immediately to prevent the smell of the barn from permeating the milk and should be filtered through a clean cloth or strainer and transferred to clean transfer jugs. Normally, the temperature of milked milk is close to the animal's body temperature of 37°C. At this temperature, microorganisms in milk reproduce rapidly, causing the milk to spoil, shorten its shelf life or adversely affect its technological processing. Therefore, raw milk should be cooled rapidly to below 10°C within 2 hours.

If the milk is not collected within 2 hours after milking, it should be cooled to 8°C, if it is collected daily, it should be cooled below 8°C, and if it is not collected daily, it should be cooled below 6°C. The lacto peroxidase system in raw milk can only protect milk against the growth of microorganisms in the first hours after milking. Storage on the farm should not exceed 24 hours. Although the optimum growth temperature of psychrophilic and psychotrophic bacteria is 15-20°C, they can grow down to -10°C below freezing point, so keeping raw milk cooled to 4-8°C for more than 24 hours can lead to the growth of such bacteria.

As a result of the metabolic activities of aerobic psychotrophic bacteria such as Pseudomonas, Alcaligenes, Acinetobacter and similar gram positive Micrococcus, Microbacterium and some Bacillus, lactose, protein and fat in milk are degradable and heat resistant proteolytic and lipolytic enzymes are formed, and the quality of raw milk is significantly negatively affected.

If the milk is not collected within 2 hours after milking, it should be cooled to 8°C, if it is collected daily, it should be cooled below 8°C, if it is not collected daily, it should be cooled below 6°C. The lacto peroxidase system in raw milk can only protect the milk against the growth of microorganisms in the first hours after milking. Storage on the farm should not exceed 24 hours. The optimum growth temperature of psychrophilic and psychotrophic bacteria is 15-20°C, they can grow down to -10°C below freezing point, so keeping raw milk cooled to 4-8°C for more than 24 hours can lead to the growth of these types of bacteria.

As a result of the metabolite activities of Pseudomonas, Alcaligenes, Acinetobacter and similar aerobic psychotrophic bacteria and gram positive Micrococcus, Microbacterium and some Bacillus, proteolytic and lipolytic enzymes that can break down lactose, protein and fat in milk and are resistant to heat are formed, and the quality of raw milk is significantly negatively affected.

For this reason, milk kept in collection centers before going to factories or dairies must be cooled. The jugs and equipment of the milk delivered to the receiving authorities must be cleaned and disinfected in accordance with hygiene and sanitation rules for the next use.

Meanwhile, all equipment that comes into contact with milk, such as jugs, tanks and tankers used for collection and transportation purposes, must be designed to be easy to clean, suitable for disinfection, resistant to corrosion, not dangerous to human health and not adversely affect the properties of the milk.

In addition, the milk collector/carrier must have received adequate training in raw milk hygiene and must be cleanly dressed. The milk collector/carrier must not enter areas where animals and their manure are located. In conclusion, the processes carried out up to this stage are very important in determining the quality of raw milk and are among the prerequisites included in standard procedures and indispensable for the production of quality raw milk and dairy products.

These practices should include the necessary good practice procedures for Good Production Practices, Good Veterinary Services, Good Care and Feeding Practices, Good Milking Hygiene and Udder Hygiene procedures and Good Farm and Barn Management practices. Here, for higher quality and reliable production of traditional products, these procedures should be followed and if there are deficiencies in the practices, they should be eliminated and regular records should be kept to identify and prevent any incorrect practices and defects in case of any return.

For this purpose, measurement values should be taken where and under the necessary conditions. For example, the cooling times of morning and evening milk and temperature controls of tanks until delivery should be carried out and records should be kept, and at the same time, organoleptic or physico-chemical preliminary tests (veterinary drug residue, inhibitory substance, pH and acidity, etc.) should be carried out on raw milk to determine its quality before it reaches the enterprises where it is not suitable for human consumption.