Article Sécurit'Lait Les Produits Laitiers - Thursday 10th, October 2013

A (not) stupid question: why is this cow wearing a bracelet on one of its hind legs?

What is Sécurit'lait?

It's a concept of fluorescent leg bands used to identify cows using a colour code: fluorescent pink leg bands for cows undergoing antibiotic treatment, fluorescent green for dry cows and heifers about to calve, fluorescent yellow for colostrum periods and fluorescent orange for other problem cows. A wall chart uses this colour code: the farmer writes down the names of the cows wearing this or that leg band, with the date of the last separate milking, calving or intervention. So it's an extra safeguard to ensure the quality of the milk.

An inspired cowherd

The inspiration for this innovation came from a certain Alan Coraud who, as a young replacement cowherd, changed herds very often. It was therefore difficult for him to identify the cows that posed a problem for milking. His main concern was cattle treated with antibiotics, whose milk was unfit to drink. Admittedly, farmers had their own techniques: a string, a stroke of grease pencil, a piece of adhesive tape on the tail, a simple Velcro strip attached to a hind leg so that the cow's back was visible during milking... But these home-made methods were unreliable. In 1995, Alan Coraud came up with the idea of using large, fluorescent Velcro leg bands with a buckle to ensure that they were foolproof. The Sécurit'Lait method was born and duly patented.

A ‘win-win’ system

For farmers, it's extra insurance against unpleasant surprises: the dairies have the milk analysed as soon as it arrives at the factory to check its quality. Milk that does not comply is simply rejected. "Before, when we had small herds, we knew our cows by heart," says Hervé Cizeron from the GAEC du Polisan, just outside Saint-Étienne. "Today, I have a herd of 70 animals, and I still call them by name, but I'm not immune to mistakes. But when the dairy refuses the milk - and it's normal for them to do this when the milk doesn't meet standards - it's the farmer who is penalised because he doesn't get paid." So this system increases both the peace of mind of farmers and the safety of consumers, which is why more and more dairies are offering it to their producers!

Read the original article on www.produits-laitiers.com