Routine sanitization of milking equipment is a critical component of operating a dairy that promotes positive animal health, milk quality and working conditions. The Lely Astronaut A5 robotic milking system comes with it’s own unique sanitization routines that can be fine-tuned to improve these conditions. An effective, customized hygiene regimen both inside and outside of the milking robot ensures reliable operation, reduced downtime, increased yields and delivery of high-quality milk.
INITIAL APPROACHES
One of the fundamental ways to approach sanitization processes is to test the water at your facility. Hard water or untreated well water, as opposed to softened water, can potentially lead to build up of residues in and on equipment, often requiring both foaming cleansers and downtime to manually perform the cleaning procedures. Additionally, a sanitary environment where the milking robots are housed supports function and reliability. The exterior of the milking robot should be cared for with attention equal to the interior. Routine cleaning SOPs should always be in place and as in any dairy, cleaning should be a practice, not a project. Proper PPE (personal protective equipment) should always be included to ensure workplace safety, especially when working with chemicals.
One of the most effective ways to establish and maintain effective sanitation and cleaning SOPs is to partner with the Farm Management Support specialists at a local Lely Center who can assist in developing a regimen unique to your operation.
CLEANING ROBOTS WITH “TACT”
The Lely Astronaut A5 features built in cleaning programs that run automatically on a pre-determined schedule to achieve multiple cleanings per day. They include pre and post rinses as part of the process, each requiring various chemicals and temperatures. While these programs can be customized to the specific needs of a dairy or herd, they can generally be understood in the context of “T.A.C.T.” This acronym breaks down the steps of a cleaning routine into four categories:
- Time – This is the amount of time the robot is set for cleaning and sanitizing. Somewhat counter-intuitively, shorter cleaning times are better. Ideally, times are kept as short as possible to optimize the amount of milkings that can be completed each day. The other three pillars of ‘T.A.C.T.’ each play a unique role in determining time required. As an example, higher temperatures may reduce necessary cleaning time and improve disinfection but limit the types of chemicals which can be used. Time can be customized to meet the needs of a herd. For example, dairy producers raising Jerseys may want to increase their pre-rinse time as this breed is known for producing a higher quantity of solids and requiring more time to fully flush them out of a milking system.
- Action – This is the force of air and water moving through the robot. The force of the action works in tandem with chemicals and temperature to perform the cleaning. For example, higher action more readily strips solids out of a system, however setting it too high may cause early wear on consumable parts. In the Lely Astronaut A5, water moving through the system is not circulated during cleaning, ensuring dirty water is not being used at any point in the sanitization process.
- Chemical – The chemical cleaners appropriate for the system and herd. In addition to water, the Lely Astronaut A5 uses a combination of chemicals to achieve complete cleaning and sanitization. In the pre-rinse phase of a cleaning routine, water is heated to 110 degrees or more and is used to flush out milk fats. Next, alkalines are cycled through the system to break down sugars, carbohydrates and starches. After this step, depending on the setup of the robot, an acid cleaner may also be used to eliminate “milk stone” deposits such as calcium and magnesium. The final step, of applying sanitization chemicals, is highly dependent on the temperatures being used during cleaning and must always utilize an EPA registered sanitizer. Lower temperatures allow for the use of chlorine sanitizers which are proven to be extremely effective. Using higher heat in the sanitization process typically avoids the use of chlorine due to its property of oxidation at high temperatures and its potential to pit stainless steel surfaces. In this case, a mix of hydrogen peroxide and peracetic acid would be used as the sanitizing agent.
- Temperature – This is the heat of the cleaning agents or water being cycled through the system. As described above, temperature influences every step of the sanitization process. As a general rule, higher heat means additional disinfection. However, whether temperature is being increased to minimize time needed to dissolve solids or decreased to allow for the use of preferred chemical agents, temperatures should ideally be kept as high as the producer’s preferred method allows.
THE PROOF IS IN THE FINAL PRODUCT
Robotic milking systems that are optimally maintained and have cleaning regimens customized to the herd, have longer usage lives, experience less down time and help to ensure the milk going into the tank is as clean as possible. While it can take time to ‘dial in’, the exact set of T.A.C.T. variables needed to optimize your Lely Astronaut A5, the potential increase in yields makes the time spent well worth it and allows the dairy producer to maximize their investment in robotics.
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