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EP-4739100-A1 - MILK SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING DIVERSION OF A MILK SAMPLE TO A CELL COUNT DEVICE

EP4739100A1EP 4739100 A1EP4739100 A1EP 4739100A1EP-4739100-A1

Abstract

A milk system (100) used for milking individual animals (101) The milk system (100) com- prises: A milk extracting arrangement (110), a milk forwarding entity (114), a cell count device (113); a milk diverting mechanism (115) connected to the milk forwarding entity (114) and the cell count device (113); an animal identifier device (116); a database (130); milk meters (112a, 112b, 112c, 112d); a time measurement device (119); and a controller (120). The controller (120) calculates teat-specific milk secretion rates and compares them to rolling milk secretion rate deviation limits. If any teat-specific milk secretion rate is lower than the limit, the controller (120) activates the milk diverting mechanism (115) in future milking sessions after a specific time limit to measure the somatic cell count in the milk sample.

Inventors

  • CHRISTENSEN, JOHN M

Assignees

  • DeLaval Holding AB

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20240626

Claims (12)

  1. 1. A milk system (100) for milking a herd of individual animals (101), wherein the milk system (100) comprises: a milk extracting arrangement (110) configured to extract milk from each individual animal (101) during a milking session (220a, 220b, 220c, 220d) via teat cups (111a, 111 b, 111c, 111d), attached to teats of the individual animal (101), and configured to provide the extracted milk to a milk forwarding entity (114), which milk forwarding entity (114) is configured to temporarily store and/ or transport milk from one animal (101) at a time from the milk extracting arrangement (110) to a bulk tank (122); a cell count device (113), configured to receive a milk sample or a sub sample of the milk sample and measure a number of somatic cells in the milk sample; a milk diverting mechanism (115), connected to the milk forwarding entity (114) and to the cell count device (113), and configured to divert the milk sample from the milk forwarding entity (114) and forward the milk sample or the sub sample of the milk sample to the cell count device (113); an animal identifier device (116) configured to determine identity of the individual animal (101) to be milked; a database (130); a set of milk meters (112a, 112b, 112c, 112d), wherein each milk meter (112a, 112b, 112c, 112d) is arranged to measure an extracted amount of milk of each respective teat of the individual animal (101) during the milking session (220a, 220b, 220c, 220d); a time measurement device (119) configured to measure time; a controller (120) communicatively connected to the milk extracting arrangement (110), the animal identifier device (116), the milk meters (112a, 112b, 112c, 112d) , the time measurement device (119), the milk diverting mechanism (115) and the database (130); wherein the controller (120) is configured to, repeatedly for every milking session (220a, 220b, 220c, 220d): store the extracted amount of milk of each respective teat of the individual animal (101) in the database (130), associated with the identity of the individual animal (101), an identity of the teat, and a time stamp of the milking session (220a, 220b, 220c, 220d); determine, via the time measurement device (119), an inter-milking session time period (230) between two consecutive milking sessions (220a, 220b, 220c, 220d), without any milking session in between, of the individual animal (101); store the inter-milking session time period (230) at least temporarily, associated with the identity of the individual animal (101) and the time stamps of the two consecutive milking sessions (220a, 220b, 220c, 220d); determine days in lactation of the identified individual animal (101) to be milked; in case the determined days in lactation exceeds a day threshold limit: calculate a teat specific milk secretion rate by dividing the amount of extracted milk of each teat during the latest milking session (220a), with the associated inter-milking session time period (230); store the calculated teat specific milk secretion rate, associated with the identity of the individual animal (101) and the latest milking session (220a) in the database (130); calculate a rolling milk secretion rate deviation limit (310a, 310b, 310c, 31 Od), which is animal specific and teat specific and updated at each milking session (220a, 220b, 220c, 220d), based on stored teat specific milk secretion rates, obtained from the database (130), from a number of previous milking sessions (220b, 220c, 220d) within a rolling time period (320), closest in time to the latest milking session (220a); compare each teat specific milk secretion rate of the latest milking session (220a) with the corresponding teat specific rolling milk secretion rate deviation limit (310a, 310b, 310c, 310d); determine whether any one of the compared teat specific milk secretion rates is lower than the corresponding teat specific rolling milk secretion rate deviation limit (310a, 310b, 310c, 31 Od), based on the made comparison; and trigger activation of the milk diverting mechanism (115) during at least one future milking session (220x, 220y) of the individual animal (101) after a first time limit (241) from the latest milking session (220a), to divert the milk sample from the milk forwarding entity (114) and forward the milk sample or the sub sample of the milk sample to the cell count device (113), thereby enabling a cell count measurement of the number of somatic cells in the milk extracted from the individual animal (101), when any one of the compared teat specific milk secretion rates of the latest milking session (220a) is lower than the rolling milk secretion rate deviation limit (310a, 310b, 310c, 31 Od) for the specific teat, the latest milking session (220a) becomes the triggering milking session.
  2. 2. The milk system (100) according to claim 1 , wherein the rolling time period (320) comprises the previous milking sessions (220b, 220c, 220d) closest in time to the latest milking session (220a) that have been performed during the latest 3-10 days.
  3. 3. The milk system (100) according to any one of claims 1-2, wherein the controller (120) is configured to calculate an average for the teat specific milk secretion rates of the number of the previous milking sessions (220b, 220c, 220d) closest in time to the latest milking session (220a) leaving outliers out of the calculation, and set the rolling milk secretion rate deviation limit (310a, 310b, 310c, 31 Od) for the specific teat to a value with a margin below the calculated average.
  4. 4. The milk system (100) according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein the controller (120) is configured to calculate the inter percentile range (330) for the teat specific milk secretion rates of the number of the previous milking sessions (220b, 220c, 220d) closest in time to the latest milking session (220a), wherein the inter percentile range (330) has a lower limit value (331) and/ or an upper limit value (332); and recalculate the rolling milk secretion rate deviation limit (310a, 310b, 310c, 31 Od) for the respective teats based on multiplication of the inter percentile range (330) with a factor.
  5. 5. The milk system (100) according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein the first time limit (241) is set between 1-2 days from the triggering milking session.
  6. 6. The milk system (100) according to any one of claims 1-5, wherein the controller (120) is communicatively connected to the cell count device (113) and wherein the controller (120) is configured to detect when the cell count measurement of the future milking session (220x) occurring after the first time limit (241) from the triggering milking session exceeds a cell count threshold limit; and deactivate the milk diverting mechanism (115) and/ or the cell count device (113) upon the detection of the cell count measurement exceeding the cell count threshold limit.
  7. 7. The milk system (100) according to claim 6, wherein the controller (120) is configured to alert a farmer upon detection of the cell count measurement of the future milking session (220x), exceeding the cell count threshold limit.
  8. 8. The milk system (100) according to any one of claims 1-7, wherein the controller (120) is communicatively connected to the cell count device (113) and wherein the controller (120) is configured to deactivate the milk diverting mechanism (115) and/ or the cell count device (113), when a second time limit (242) counted from the triggering milking session is reached without detection of any cell count measurement of any future milking session (220x, 220y) performed after the first time limit (241), but before the second time limit (242), exceeding the cell count threshold limit.
  9. 9. The milk system (100) according to claim 8, wherein the second time limit (242) is set between 3-6 days from the triggering milking session.
  10. 10. The milk system (100) according to any one of claims 1-9, wherein the day threshold limit for the determined days in lactation is set to a value between 10 and 90 days, preferable 30-60 days.
  11. 11. The milk system (100) according to any one of claims 1-10, wherein the milk diverting mechanism (115) comprises a pump.
  12. 12. The milk system (100) according to any one of claims 1-11 , wherein the controller (120) is configured to determine a time value at a first milking session of a lactation period of the individual animal (101) and store the time value, associated with the identity of the individual animal (101) in the database (130), and determine days in lactation of the identified individual animal (101) based on the stored time value.

Description

MILK SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING DIVERSION OF A MILK SAMPLE TO A CELL COUNT DEVICE TECHNICAL FIELD This document discloses a milk system. More particularly, a milk system is described, for milking a herd of individual animals, and divert milk of a future milking session to a cell count device based on milk secretion rate of each teat of the individual animal. A milk secretion rate of each teat of the individual animal is determined, during each milking session. The teat specific milk secretion rate is compared with a repeatedly updated rolling milk secretion rate deviation limit. When the teat specific milk secretion rate is lower than the rolling milk secretion rate deviation limit, activation of a milk diverting mechanism during a future milking session of the individual animal is triggered, otherwise not. BACKGROUND An often-used indicator of milk quality is somatic cell count. Most somatic cells are leukocytes, i.e. , white blood cells, which may become present in increasing numbers in milk as an immune response to a mastitis-causing pathogen. Farmers may be financially rewarded for low herd somatic cell counts and/ or penalized for high herd somatic cell count, as the somatic cell count is considered to, in some meaning, reflect the quality of the milk. The herd somatic cell count is made on milk extracted from a bulk tank, comprising milk of several animals. In case the herd somatic cell count is too high, e.g., higher than a threshold level of 400 000 cells per ml of milk, the milk is deemed unfit for human consumption and consequently has to be wasted, leading to an economic loss. Different legislations may apply different threshold levels for somatic cell count. Somatic cell count may also/ alternatively be applied on milk of an individual animal, in order to detect the risk of an infections/ mastitis at an early stage and take appropriate measures to cure the animal. The milk of the sick animal/ animal with high somatic cell count may be wasted without being allowed to enter the bulk tank, or possibly be diverted and used for other purpose than for human consumption. The somatic cell count, (individual/ herd level) may be determined in several different ways and many times expensive chemicals are required. The known somatic cell count methods are also more or less time consuming. One methodology for performing somatic cell count is suggested in document CN102819765A. A colouring agent is applied into a milk sample. The colouring agent acts on the somatic cells, marking them with a distinguishing colour. The milk sample with the colouring agent is dropped into a slide. Cell images in colour may then be taken of the milk sample in the slide, and a cell image counting process may be applied for counting the number of somatic cells based on image recognition. Another solution to make the somatic cell count is suggested in WO2019082178A1. The number of somatic cells within a milk sample is estimated by mixing the milk sample with a reagent, detergent and/ or caustic soda, forming a test sample. Any somatic cells within the milk sample will cause the milk sample to thicken. Severe cases of infection/ mastitis will cause the milk to form a gel consistency. The viscosity of the test sample is therefore correlated to the somatic cell count. Repeating the somatic cell count at every milking session for every animal at the farm will be expensive, resource demanding, time consuming and in addition probably unnecessary in the meaning that most somatic cell counts of most animals will indicate that the somatic cell count is low, i.e. , lower than a threshold limit such as e.g., 300 000 cells per ml of milk (or any other selected threshold limit). To instead repeat the somatic cell count at some predetermined time interval for each animal, for example once every 10 days, may lead to undetected mastitis for several days for an infected animal, causing unnecessary suffering for the animal, besides extended and more expensive curing process, and decreased milk yield of the farm. It may also result in economical penalisation by the dairy producer due to high herd somatic cell count. Yet, the mentioned possible solutions would still result in a lot of unnecessary somatic cell counts on healthy animals, and thereby also unnecessary usage of expensive and/ or environment unfriendly chemicals. It would thus be desired to find a way to reduce the amount of unnecessary measurements of somatic cell counts, while at the same time detect animals with a mastitis infection risk at an early stage. SUMMARY It is therefore an object of this invention to solve at least some of the above problems and determine when to measure somatic cell count and when not to, for individual animals at a dairy farm, thereby minimising or at least reducing the usage of chemicals involved when measuring the somatic cell count. According to a first aspect of the invention, this objective is achieved by a milk system. The milk system intends to extract