On-Farm Pasteurization of Milk for Calves
Introduction
All dairy operations have a supply of milk that is not
saleable, commonly called waste milk. Waste milk can be
defined as excess colostrum, non-saleable transition milk,
mastitic milk or non-saleable antibiotic treated milk. In the
past, waste milk was commonly fed to calves but
concerns with bacteria contamination such as E.coli and
salmonella as well as larger concerns with possible
transmission of diseases such as Mycobacterium
paratuberculosis (Johnes) through feeding waste milk
have led to a general recommendation not to feed raw
waste milk to calves.
Pasteurization of waste milk for calves is one option to
reduce management risk while utilizing a valuable low
cost liquid feed source for calves. Milk has been
pasteurized for human consumption for many years, but
milk pasteurization equipment and technology has been
relegated to dairy plants bottling milk or
producing dairy products for human
consumption. Currently, companies are
starting to produce, smaller, selfcontained,
on-farm pasteurizers
specifically for the utilization of waste
milk to feed to calves. These smaller onfarm
pasteruizers are being marketed at
prices that now make the technology
affordable to an individual dairy operation
to consider.