How Modern Milk Factories Operate

There are some things that remain the same between modern and past dairy farming experiences. For example, cows still need to be milked twice a day whether it was then or now. The difference is how modern milk factories accomplish these chores compare to the past.

In the past a person would diligently milk each cow twice daily but modern practices allow technology to accomplish this task using a suction cap that is secured to each teat.

The milk then travels through stainless steel piping to large vats which are refrigerated. Here the milk is stored and cooled. Within just a few hours of the milking process, a large refrigerated tanker will arrive to pick up the fresh milk. The tanker will pick up from many farms and then take the milk to the factory for processing.

Once the milk arrives at the factory it will go through several steps before it is sent to market where we as consumers purchase it.

Once the tanker has collected all the milk along the way he returns to the factory where the chilled milk is transferred to very large holding tanks. Different cows produce milk that has a different level of fat but in the factory all the milk is changed so that it has a 3.9% fat content and left over fat is used to make cheese, butter, or cream.

The system is very sophisticated and milk can be pumped to different divisions within the factory so that it can be made into different products such as cottage cheese or low fat milk.

The next step that occurs is pasteurization. Louis Pasteur discovered this treatment process back in 1864. It’s a process where the milk is heated to 72 degrees Celsius which kills bacteria that can turn the milk sour. It is kept at this temperature for 15 seconds then very quickly cooled back to 4 degrees Celsius.

During the pasteurizing process the milk goes to the clarifier where all the foreign particles are filtered out. After that the milk is homogenized which is a process that spreads the cream evenly throughout the milk.

In the early days people would just boil their milk to kill the bacteria. That would however leave the milk with a burnt taste. The modern form of pasteurizing doesn’t affect taste nor does it affect nutrients.

You’ve probably heard your parents talk about scooping the cream off the top of their milk bottles. This occurred with raw milk but with homogenized milk the cream does not rise to the top because it becomes permanently suspended in the milk. In our modern world this is handy because our packaging does not allow for the ability to easily shake the milk to mix in the cream.

The milk is under extreme pressure and passes through small openings which break the fat into very tiny particles and then spread it evenly throughout the milk.

The milk’s temperature is checked as it flows across a set of cold stainless plates which cools it down. Then it’s pumped into huge refrigerator holding tanks while it awaits packaging. This is where flavored milk gets flavored.

Now the milk can be packaged either into the plastic containers or cartons. It will be sent to market where you will purchase it and use it. It will be graded as regular milk and that’s the milk you usually buy for your cereal and other cooking needs.

Some really large factories sell some of their product to other factories such as cheese or yogurt factories. Once the milk has been packaged it is loaded into crates. Once it has been picked up by the refrigerator trucks it is moved to facilities that are cool until it is ready for distribution.

Each day the truck grabs a shipment from the storage and delivers it to route members and contract stores. Then we come along and buy our milk products.

Dairy products of all sorts are made in factories including yogurt, ice cream, condensed milk, powdered milk, and cheese.

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