Compositional Milk Quality

Butterfat

Provisional butterfat figures for January 2009 stand at 4.14%, five percentage points below December, but one percentage point above the level seen in January 2008. On a cumulative basis, average butterfat content stands at 4.05%, the same level as seen in January 2008.

	Butterfat (%)					Cumulative Butterfat (%)
	2005/6	2006/7	2007/8	2008/9		2005/6	2006/7	2007/8	2008/9
Apr	4.02	4.09	4.02	4.09		4.02	4.09	4.02	4.09
May	3.87	3.93	3.92	3.90		3.94	4.01	3.97	3.99
Jun	3.86	3.83	3.89	3.92		3.92	3.95	3.94	3.97
Jul	3.90	3.84	3.93	3.87		3.91	3.92	3.94	3.95
Aug	3.93	3.97	3.97	4.02		3.92	3.93	3.95	3.96
Sep	4.04	4.06	4.06	4.11		3.93	3.95	3.96	3.98
Oct	4.11	4.13	4.17	4.16		3.96	3.98	3.99	4.01
Nov	4.16	4.17	4.23	4.19		3.98	4.00	4.02	4.03
Dec	4.15	4.19	4.20	4.19		4.00	4.02	4.04	4.04
Jan	4.10	4.13	4.13	4.14		4.01	4.03	4.05	4.05
Feb	4.06	4.08	4.10			4.01	4.03	4.05
Mar	4.10	4.10	4.13			4.02	4.04	4.06
Ave.	4.02	4.04	4.06

Provisional

Protein

Average protein content for December 2008 milk stands at 3.32%, four percentage points lower than November. However, protein levels for December 2008 stand the same as December 2007 at 3.32%. For more information on protein and butterfat levels click here.

Protein(%)
	2004/5	2005/6	2006/7	2007/8	2008/09
Apr	3.21	3.21	3.21	3.27	3.26
May	3.25	3.29	3.24	3.33	3.26
Jun	3.24	3.26	3.23	3.28	3.25
Jul	3.25	3.24	3.19	3.26	3.25
Aug	3.26	3.30	3.23	3.31	3.29
Sep	3.37	3.33	3.35	3.39	3.35
Oct	3.37	3.36	3.38	3.42	3.36
Nov	3.33	3.34	3.38	3.39	3.36
Dec	3.29	3.31	3.34	3.32	3.32
Jan	3.25	3.26	3.28	3.25
Feb	3.21	3.23	3.25	3.22
Mar	3.20	3.23	3.25	3.25
Ave	3.27	3.28	3.27	3.31

Source: DEFRA/RPA

Hygiene Milk Quality

The data below covers the monthly average milk quality data for Great Britain from 2007. Hygiene quality data for January 2009 shows average Bactoscan results fell 2,000/ml from December 2008 to 32,000/ml, and were 3,000/ml lower than January 2008.

SCC levels for January 2009 have fallen 1,000/ml to 183,000/ml compared to December 2008. Year-on-year comparisons show SCC levels are 4,000/ml lower than the 187,000/ml seen in January 2008. For more information on hygienic milk quality click here.

Average GB Milk Quality
	Bactoscan ('000 per ml)
	2007	2008	2009
January	36	35	32
February	40	32
March	34	30
April	32	29
May	29	28
June	29	27
July	33	26
August	31	28
September	29	31
October	30	32
November	32	34
December	34	34
Yearly Average	32	31
	Cell Count ('000 per ml)
	2007	2008	2009
January	187	187	183
February	188	190
March	190	193
April	195	194
May	195	198
June	199	200
July	205	205
August	210	210
September	206	210
October	195	201
November	185	193
December	184	184
Yearly Average	195	197

Raw Data provided by: DIAL/FMG Members