Dairy

Parlour design has evolved from simple barns or sheds to large rotary structures in which the workflow (throughput of cows) is very efficiently handled.

In the more recent past, people in agricultural societies owned dairy animals that they milked for domestic and local (village) consumption, a typical example of a cottage industry.

With industrialisation and urbanisation, the supply of milk became a commercial industry, with specialised breeds of cattle being developed for dairy, as distinct from beef or draught animals.

While most countries produce their own milk products, the structure of the dairy industry varies in different parts of the world.

In 2009, charges of antitrust violations have been made against major dairy industry players in the United States, which critics call "Big Milk".

[8] Plants producing liquid milk and products with short shelf life, such as yogurts, creams and soft cheeses, tend to be located on the outskirts of urban centres close to consumer markets.

Exceptionally, however, large plants producing a wide range of products are still common in Eastern Europe, a holdover from the former centralised, supply-driven concept of the market under Communist governments.

Producers must adjust the mix of milk which is sold in liquid form vs. processed foods (such as butter and cheese) depending on changing supply and demand.

[11] Thirteen EU member states including France and Spain have introduced laws on compulsory or mandatory written milk contracts (MWC's) between farmers and processors.

[13] During 2020 the UK government has undertaken a consultation exercise to determine which contractual measures, if any, would improve the resilience of the dairy industry for the future.

If a cow is left unmilked just once she is likely to reduce milk-production almost immediately and the rest of the season may see her dried off (giving no milk) and still consuming feed.

Artificial insemination (AI) is common in all high-production herds in order to improve the genetics of the female offspring which will be raised for replacements.

By varying the amount of cream returned, producers can make a variety of low-fat milks to suit their local market.

It has a very wide range of uses from being a filler for human foods, such as in ice cream, to the manufacture of products such as fabric, adhesives, and plastics.

In earlier times, whey or milk serum was considered to be a waste product and it was, mostly, fed to pigs as a convenient means of disposal.

This allowed for the high cost of transport (taking the smallest volume high-value product), primitive trucks and the poor quality of roads.

Milk is then transported (manually in buckets) or with a combination of airflow and mechanical pump to a central storage vat or bulk tank.

Milk contact surfaces must comply with regulations requiring food-grade materials (typically stainless steel and special plastics and rubber compounds) and are easily cleaned.

The UK bail, initially developed by Wiltshire dairy farmer Arthur Hosier, was a six standing mobile shed with steps that the cow mounted, so the herdsman did not have to bend so low.

After washing the udder and teats the cups of the milking machine are applied to the cows, from the rear of their hind legs, on both sides of the working area.

The milker, or an automatic device, removes the milking machine cups and the cow backs out and leaves at an exit just before the entrance.

These allow the cows to voluntarily present themselves for milking at any time of the day or night, although repeat visits may be limited by the farmer through computer software.

A robot arm is used to clean teats and apply milking equipment, while automated gates direct cow traffic, eliminating the need for the farmer to be present during the process.

[22] In the associated milk processing factories, most of the waste is washing water that is treated, usually by composting, and spread on farm fields in either liquid or solid form.

This is much different from half a century ago, when the main products were butter, cheese and casein, and the rest of the milk had to be disposed of as waste (sometimes as animal feed).

It contains important amounts of carbohydrates, proteins, lactic acid, fats, and salts and its BOD value can exceed 40,000 mg/L.

[26] Dairy wastewater management usually includes equalisation, neutralisation and physical separation followed by biological treatment, while cheese whey is treated in anaerobic digesters or passes through membranes for protein recovery.

A portion of the population,[37] including vegans and many Jains, object to dairy production as unethical, cruel to animals, and environmentally deleterious.

They state that cattle suffer under conditions employed by the dairy industry and how they are eventually killed for meat once their milk production declines.

Several pharmaceutical companies developed commercial rBST products and they have been approved for use in the U.S., Mexico, Brazil, India, Russia, and at least ten others.