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Milk Fat Determinations in Dairy Herd Improvement Association

R. C. Laben

Department of Animal Husbandry, University of California, Davis

ABSTRACT

For more than 75 years, the Babcock test has been the standard method used to determine the fat content of cow's milk. While reasonably accurate, this method is both slow and rather dangerous when used in the Dairy Herd Improvement Association (DHIA) program. The Foss Electric Company of Denmark has recently introduced into the United States a new apparatus, based on a colorimetric principle. The Milko-Tester MK II homogenizes the milk internally in the machine, momentarily neutralizes the protein, and the fat content is measured by a photo-electric cell that acts on a galvanometer. A trained and experienced operator can easily make up to 700 individual fat determinations in an eight-hour day. About 35 ml of milk is required for each sample determination.

Reports from Denmark (2) and Ireland (4), as well as the results of some early studies in the United States (1, 5) have been very encouraging. The standard error of estimate (or deviation of a single observation) has been reported to range from about ±0.06 to ±0.08% fat.