Study on Status of Clean Milk Production Practices Followed by the Dairy Farmers of West Bengal

Clean Milk Production is very important in dairy farming. Several hygienic measures should be practice for production of clean milk. Considering the importance of clean milk production practices followed by dairy farmers the present study was conducted in West Bengal to evaluate clean milk production practices adopted by the dairy farmers. Two district namely Nadia and North 24 parganas have been selected randomly for the research. From each district 2 blocks i.e. total 4 blocks have been chosen randomly and then two villages have been chosen from each block by random sampling method. From each village 15 respondents were selected on the basis of having at least two dairy animals out of which one should be in milk, thus a total 120 farmers were selected for the study. Data were collected by structured interview schedule. All the dairy farmers cleaning animal shed daily, majority (67.50%) of respondents followed pre milk teat wash with water to remove dirt and dung and 44.17 per cent of the farmers wipe udder with dry cloth after udder washing. 26.66 per cent of the respondents followed full hand milking and washing hands with soap before milking, whereas 23.33 per cent farmers using sieve during transferring milk. Majority 68.34 per cent respondents adopted deworming of milking animals regularly, followed by 61.67 per cent of the farmers vaccinate their milking animals regularly.54.17 per cent of the respondents clip hairs around the udder and hind quarter of the milking animal as a preventive measure for clean milk production, whereas 43.34 per cent of respondents followed the hygienic practices of washing and cleaning animal every day.