Milk, Where it All Begins...

Have you ever sat back and wondered...where does milk come from? How does it get to the grocery store, fresh and neatly wrapped?

Cows are the number one milk producer in Canada. Although we get our milk from cows, people in some countries get milk from other animals, many that you have probably never heard of. Some of these exotic milk producing animals are the llama, camel, reindeer, zebu, water buffalo and yak. Many of these animals live in areas of the world where cows cannot because of the climate.

No one really knows how long ago people started milking cows, or how they discovered that milk was good for us to drink. All we know is that dairying is an ancient occupation.

Before European settlers arrived, there were no cows in our country. European settlers brought them over in the 1500's and by the early 1600's Canada's first dairy farm was started.

Long ago people discovered that they could get more milk from some cows than from others. Over generations, herds of good milking cows were formed. These cows became known as DAIRY COWS - cows that could give large amounts of milk almost all the time.

DAIRY COWS - ALL THE DIFFERENT BREEDS

Ninety five percent of all the dairy cows found in Canada are Holstein. These large black and white cows are the most popular because they produce more milk than any other breed. The first Holstein came from North of Holland.

Four breeds, the Jersey, Guernsey, Ayrshire, and Brown Swiss, make up the remaining 5% of the two million dairy cows in Canada. Being named after the area they originated from, the Jersey and Guernsey are from small islands in the English Channel, the Ayrshire from Scotland and the Brown Swiss from Switzerland.

WHAT DO DAIRY COWS EAT?

In one year a cow eats literally tonnes of food. They have very little fat on their body because most of their food energy is used to produce milk.

A cow eats a variety of foods, such as grass, hay, silage (a mixture of grasses and grains that is allowed to ferment in a silo), mixed grains plus salt, vitamins and minerals. As well, cows can drink about half a bathtub full or 60 litres of water every day. The cow then turns this food and water into wholesome, nutritious milk...and can she make a lot a milk! A good dairy cow produces an average of 20 litres of milk each day. This means one cow could make enough milk to give you 80 glasses everyday!

MAKING MILK - HOW DOES A DAIRY COW DO IT?

Most mammals only produce enough milk to feed their young. Dairy cows are different, they produce far more milk than their young calves can use. A calf only needs a small portion of her mother's milk supply during the first few months of life (about 255 litres). Since a good dairy cow produces more than 6,100 litres of milk in a year, there is a lot of extra milk for us to use. A cow produces milk for about ten months following the birth of her calf and for the process to continue she must have a calf every year.

The making of milk begins with the food the cow eats. Let's take a look at this process. When a cow eats, she swallows her food half chewed and continues eating until she is full. The food goes into her stomach and what a stomach! You may hear some people say that a cow has four stomachs. The truth is, a cow has one stomach with four parts. Once swallowed, the food goes into the first section called the RUMEN where it is softened. Then it moves into the second section called the RETICULUM where it is formed into small balls, each called a cud. A cud is about the size of a small orange. Then, strangely enough, the cud is brought back up into the cow's mouth. The cow chews the cud for about 8 minutes and then it is passed into the third section called the OMASUM where digestion begins. Finally it reaches the fourth section, the ABOMASUM which is sometimes referred to as the "true" stomach. Here it is broken down by digestive juices similar to how our stomachs work.

Some of the digested food is then turned into milk in the cow's udder which looks like a big bag. The udder is divided into four sections with a teat hanging from each section. The milk comes out of the teats only when they are squeezed in just the right way.

IT'S MILKING TIME!

A long time ago cows were milked by hand. Today, dairy farmers use milking machines so they can milk several cows at once. It is faster, easier and more sanitary if a milking machine is used.

The milking machine has 4 cups, one for each teat. These cups pump the milk gently and rhythmically from the cow's udder. Before the 4 rubber suction cups are fitted on to the cow's teats, her udder and teats are washed with a disinfectant solution, then rinsed and dried. The action of the milking machine imitates that of milking by hand and takes less than 5 minutes each cow. Milking the cow by hand or by machine never hurts the cow.

A cow is milked regularly, usually early in the morning and late in the afternoon. Milking times vary from farm to farm.

The milk is carried by stainless steel pipes from the milking machines to a large refrigerated bulk tank in the barn. After every milking, the whole system is washed, rinsed, and sanitized to make sure all the parts are clean. Every second day the milk is piped from the bulk tank into a tank truck which visits the farm. The truck driver hauls the milk to the dairy where it is tested for freshness and milkfat content.

AT THE DAIRY

The dairy is a modern processing plant where the milk is first tested for quality, then processed and packaged for delivery to the store.

The milk the tank truck delivers to the dairy is called raw milk. It has not yet been PASTEURIZED and may contain harmful bacteria. The bacteria found in raw milk may cause disease and illness in people who drink it. Therefore, ALL milk for sale in stores has been pasteurized. Louis Pasteur, a famous French scientist, discovered long ago that heating milk (not boiling it) to 63*C for 30 minutes, then quickly cooling it to 4*C would kill the harmful bacteria without changing the nutrient value of the milk. This process became known as pasteurization. Today a much faster process is used by the dairies. This process, HTST stands for High Temperature Short Time, and involves heating the milk to a minimum of 72*C for 16 seconds.

In your grocery store you many have come across milk in boxes stored on the shelf. Do you know why this milk needs no refrigeration? It is because of a special method of pasteurization called UHT, which stands for Ultra High Temperature. In this process the milk is heated to a minimum of 138*C for 1 second then quickly cooled to 2*C. Because of this higher heat treatment, the milk is almost sterilized and doesn't need refrigeration until it has been opened.

Skim milk, 2% and Standard milk do not taste the same. Do you know what makes them different? It is the amount of milkfat or cream they contain. Standard milk has 3.25% milkfat, 2% partly skimmed milk has 2% milkfat and skim milk contains almost no milkfat. Normally you would expect the milkfat to rise to the top of the container when the milk is left standing. However, most milk bought in the store has been homogenized so this does not happen. A homogenizer is a machine that forces the milk under very high pressure through tiny holes. These holes break up the milkfat globules into particles one eighth of their original size. These smaller particles remain evenly distributed throughout the milk.

After the milk has been homogenized and pasteurized, it is placed into cartons under sanitary conditions and then taken by truck to your local grocery store.

DELICIOUS DAIRY PRODUCTS

Many products are made at the dairy. In addition to the milk you drink everyday, some dairies also produce evaporated milk, powdered milk, chocolate milk, and buttermilk. Milk is used to make ice cream, yogurt, sour cream, butter, cottage cheese and a variety of other cheeses. Do you have a favourite dairy product?

DAIRY TRIVIA

The first cow was brought to Canada in 1518. Average Dairy Cow weighs 600 Kilograms A Dairy Cow produces milk 305 days a year. Average length of time a cow gives milk - 3.5 years

DID YOU KNOW...

5 litres of whole milk are needed to make 500 grams of cheddar cheese. 5 litres of skim milk are needed to make 500 grams of skim milk powder. 3 litres of skim milk are needed to make 500 grams of cottage cheese. 1 litre of whole milk is needed to make 500 ml of evaporated milk.

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