Fresh Milk Sampling for Centralized Milk Testing

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Abstract
A 2-yr study of 384 milk producers on nine milk routes was undertaken to investigate fresh milk (unpreserved) sam- piing for centralized milk testing for payment purposes. Duration of the mixing period in the farm bulk tank was a major variable in obtaining fresh milk samples for analysis. Automatic sampling comparable to sampling from bulk tanks agitated for 10 rain. The sampling fre- quency required for a mean milk fat content representative of each herd.was calculated from the standard deviation of the fat test in the herds. The dis- tribution of accuracies among herds varied with frequency of testing. At four samples per month 53.7, 89.8, 97.7, and 98.1% of the herds had accuracies within 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5% of the annual mean. If herd standard deviations could be reduced to .2% or less with improved mixing, 59.2, 98.9, and 100% of the herds would have had accuracies within 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0% of the annual mean by four tests per month. Tests on fresh milk gave higher averages than those on composite samples by .035, .037 and .025% for fat, protein, and lactose. Fresh milk sampling is technically feasible by automatic sampling or by manual sampling

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