KenAG 6 1/2" disk milk filters (100 per box)

Details

Disk filters are the standard consumable for filtering milk on the way from the unit to the can or tank. The 6½ inch size fits the common filter holders, and they come 100 to a box because they are strictly single-use — one disk, one milking, then it goes in the garbage. Do not be tempted to reuse them. A filter that has caught sediment is also holding bacteria in a warm, wet, nutrient-rich mat, and running the next milking through it multiplies the bacterial count in the milk rather than reducing it. This is one of the cheapest consumables in a dairy and the wrong place to economise. The filter is also a diagnostic tool, and this is the part experienced dairymen actually use it for. Look at the disk after every milking. Sediment tells you about cleanliness in the parlour and how well udders are being prepped. Flecks or clots point you at a quarter with mastitis before anything else does. A filter that changes character from one milking to the next is telling you something changed, and it is worth two seconds of attention every time. Seat the disk properly in the holder. A filter that is off-centre or creased lets milk bypass it entirely, and you get a clean-looking disk and unfiltered milk. Filtering is not a substitute for clean milking. It catches what got in; it does not make dirty milk clean, and it does nothing about bacteria in solution. Store the box sealed, dry, and off the floor. A damp box of filters is a contaminated box of filters.