Crazy TBC reading

flat out !!

Hey all. Got bit of a shock earlier with txt from Co-op earlier with a tbc reading of 46,000. I've no explaination for such a high reading as we have exact same wash routine for years. Generally tbc ranges from 2000- 8000 and rarely exceeds 10,000, Even during the winter when cows were indoors most of the results were less than 5000. Anyone experienced this before.? Wondering did milkman actually take sample from milk tank or slurry tank.!

whelan1

did you check your milk tank?

whelan1

i got a text yesterday evening for 5% water in the tank:eek: now there is no way on earth there was over 50 gallons of water in the tank, cows where back in milk, this was reflected in the collection... i keep the end milk for calves and machine is fully drained by me;) all bottoms of jars are left open til start of next milking and inplate cooler also left open... am very careful over water in the milk, so was quite annoyed when i got a text about it, have to wait and see what tomorrows collection is like to see if they are going to penalise me.... no way there was water in my milk

flat out !!

Yeah, it's spotless

whelan1

inplate cooler? do you descale regularly?

slippy wicket

Hi, hate to repeat the point but are you 100% sure its spotless.
Did you climb in and check the edges.
Sometimes if you dont acid wash regularly you can get something that looks like one of those fried egg jelly sweets building up.
Its a bacteria laden nasty yoke that will not wash off if it gets above a certain size.
Happened to us, and tcb went to 120000 before we figured out what it was. We changed detergent and all.

Also give your machine a good descale and maybe a hydrosan hotshot also. Wont do any harm

Good luck in sorting it out

flat out !!

Yeah, i have a plate cooler alright, but never touched it ever since it was installed in 2005. I do a descale once a week. Machine serviced about a month ago and results were grand until todays result from collection on the 25th.

whelan1

flat out !! wrote: »

Yeah, i have a plate cooler alright, but never touched it ever since it was installed in 2005. I do a descale once a week. Machine serviced about a month ago and results were grand until todays result from collection on the 25th.

no way, we open our in plate cooler every 3-4weeks during the winter and every couple of months during the summer, cant believe that yours hasnt been opened in 7 years:eek: also check the water temp of your wash is ok

flat out !!

slippy wicket wrote: »

Hi, hate to repeat the point but are you 100% sure its spotless.
Did you climb in and check the edges.
Sometimes if you dont acid wash regularly you can get something that looks like one of those fried egg jelly sweets building up.
Its a bacteria laden nasty yoke that will not wash off if it gets above a certain size.
Happened to us, and tcb went to 120000 before we figured out what it was. We changed detergent and all.

Also give your machine a good descale and maybe a hydrosan hotshot also. Wont do any harm

Good luck in sorting it out

Ok thanks, i'll have a closer look next time its empty.

bbam

flat out !! wrote: »

Yeah, i have a plate cooler alright, but never touched it ever since it was installed in 2005. I do a descale once a week. Machine serviced about a month ago and results were grand until todays result from collection on the 25th.

Seriously , the pale cooler hasn't been touched since 2005!
Have to say I've serviced hundreds yearly and all but a few would be full of gunk after a year so I'd worry about that for a start. Are you sure the plate cooler isn't done with the service, we would always have included it As standard unless requested not to.

Definitely tank as suggested.

Sanitary jar and the line from the milk receiver to the sanitary jar and up to the vacuum line from the sanitary jar, big bacteria area and needs to be stripped and cleaned annually.

kevthegaff

ya i had really high tbc, crust build up underneath the lid of my old bulk tank, since i got the new tank no problem, normally bulk tank, plate cooler, or sanitary trap, just open the claw piece to check for residue also

whelan1

so did you find anything?

flat out !!

No, nothing alarming anyways. Took ur advice and took plate cooler apart, it wasn't spotless but have my doubts it was at fault. Milk tank not emptied since, so didnt get chance to get into it to examine it properly. Parlour is v basic, no jars, or metres, only extra on it is dua vac (De Laval). Examined everything and all looks fine. Time will tell tho.

whelan1

sometimes the top of the receiver jar at top of parlour can be dirty

Ltrvale

WE had the same thing here before father went to wash the tank after a collection and saw a crazy reading like yours for the tbc on the docket for the previous collection, so he rang the co-op straight away and told them to test our milk straight away when the lorry went in. they did and it was fine. when the co-op saw there was no pattern to test ie it had been between 5 and 7000 for the last 20 years then went up to 50000 and back down to 6000 they rackoned a mistake must have been made along the way

whelan1

sometimes i get a high reading at the end of the month when its too late to do anything to lower your accumulated results:mad:

Injuryprone

whelan1 wrote: »

i got a text yesterday evening for 5% water in the tank:eek: now there is no way on earth there was over 50 gallons of water in the tank, cows where back in milk, this was reflected in the collection... i keep the end milk for calves and machine is fully drained by me;) all bottoms of jars are left open til start of next milking and inplate cooler also left open... am very careful over water in the milk, so was quite annoyed when i got a text about it, have to wait and see what tomorrows collection is like to see if they are going to penalise me.... no way there was water in my milk

You might want to check the plate cooler, just in case. One of the plates might be cracked in the centre, allowing the water to mix with the milk. Happened to us about 6/7 years ago.

whelan1

Injuryprone wrote: »

You might want to check the plate cooler, just in case. One of the plates might be cracked in the centre, allowing the water to mix with the milk. Happened to us about 6/7 years ago.

waiting for results of yesterdays collection, texted them yesterday but got no reply... will have to wait til tomorrow:cool:

flat out !!

whelan1 wrote: »

sometimes the top of the receiver jar at top of parlour can be dirty

Yeah, i had a look at that yesterday too, stainless steel one, wit sanitary jar over it, opened it at the float switch and looks perfect. I sometimes turn off milk pump during washing, fill the receiving jar and let water into sanitary jar. Probably no need to do it because there is a 'thingy' that sends a blast of air up the milk line every 30 seconds or so during washing.

flat out !!

Bradfield wrote: »

WE had the same thing here before father went to wash the tank after a collection and saw a crazy reading like yours for the tbc on the docket for the previous collection, so he rang the co-op straight away and told them to test our milk straight away when the lorry went in. they did and it was fine. when the co-op saw there was no pattern to test ie it had been between 5 and 7000 for the last 20 years then went up to 50000 and back down to 6000 they rackoned a mistake must have been made along the way

was telling a neighbour about it, and he had similar story to ur's, he rang the co-op and was basically told not to worry about it. Next test was back to normal. Hoping mine will be same.

flat out !!

Last tbc result 4000. So back to normal,

KatyMac

They do this just to scare the bejeezuz out of ye

whelan1

KatyMac wrote: »

They do this just to scare the bejeezuz out of ye

yup to keep you on your toes:o

Farmer Ed

Injuryprone wrote: »

You might want to check the plate cooler, just in case. One of the plates might be cracked in the centre, allowing the water to mix with the milk. Happened to us about 6/7 years ago.

How long ago was it since we were promised independent milk testing?