Milk’s most important contact surface
A combination of factors contributes to high-quality milk, but for New York dairy farmer Jim Davenport, he believes a low somatic cell count begins at the teat level.
“Milk quality issues inside the teat start with what’s on the teat,” he said. Davenport shared the strategies used on his farm in the March Hoard’s Dairyman webinar, “Clean cows make clean milk.”
Davenport’s dairy is located near Ancramdale, N.Y., just two hours north of New York City. His herd of 70 registered Holsteins and a few registered Ayrshires averages 86 pounds of milk, with 4.1% fat and 3.2% protein. The cows are milked twice a day in their tie stall barn, and their average somatic cell count for 2020 was 33,583 cells per milliliter (mL).