Jim Holden, Dairy Farmer, Ribble Valley in Lancashire
“We were using conventional black rubber tubing in our milking prior to 2006. The rubber tubing is soft state when fitting to the milking machine. However over a period of time with continuous use twice a day, (milking and hygiene cleaning) the rubber becomes hard and starts to corrode inside. This creates the build-up of milk in the little cracks and in turn, particles of rubber were entering into the milk supply. This obviously can affect the quality of the milk and also increases the bacteria build up, something which is of great concern to me and the quality of my milk. On average we used to change the tubing approximately every six months”.
The solution: SuraSil ™DS
“We started to use the Silicone Diary tubing and found the quality of the tubing far superior to the rubber. When the hygiene clean is completed the silicone allows a thorough clean every time and does not leave any milk residue in the tube at all due to its extra smooth inner bore. This has improved our milk bactoscan results (bacteria in the milk) considerably.
Also due to the silicone retaining its properties, it does not crack therefore no particles are entering into the milk, increasing the quality of our milk supply. The tubing lasts at least four times longer than the black rubber tubing so in the long term helps to reduce the costs for milking production. The diary tubing that we have trialled from Silicone Engineering has been of excellent quality, and the longevity is excellent.”
Find out more about suraSil™DS Silicone Dairy Tubing
