URU - 2013 - #005 - SERIE - RURAL WORKER RIGHTS, DAIRY WORKER

Uruguay - 2013 - Permanent Serie of Rural Worker Rights, Dairy worker

Options:

SERIE --- 4,60 EUR
SERIE [2X2] --- 18,00 EUR
FDC not Sent --- 6,00 EUR
FDC Sent on First Day --- 9,00 EUR
COVER Sent on First Day --- 6,00 EUR

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Issue information:

Country: Uruguay
Date: March 8th, 2013
Printed: 200.000 copies

Stamp Shape and Size: Rectangular [27 mm. x 20 mm.]
Perforation: Lines
Gum: Self Adhesive

Block Configuration: 25 stamps [5 x 5]
Block Shape and Size: Rectangular [219 mm. x 195 mm.]

FDC Type: Normal
FDC Shape and Size: Rectangular [165 mm. x 105 mm.]
Cover Shape and Size: Rectangular [241 mm. x 159 mm.]

Catalogue information:

Michel: No Data Available
Ivert: No Data Available
Scott: No Data Available
Stanley & Gibbons: No Data Available

Topics:

Issue:

This stamp is the forth release of the permanent serie already mentioned, thought to spread awareness about the right of rural works enshrined in law 18.441, added in Uruguay law system on December 24th, 2008.

This permanent serie will be compounded by many stamps, eight already were issued at the moment was written this article, and in each of them a different rural activity, and in particular, the rural worker involved in it, will be focus of the issue.

In this particular issue, the dairy worker is the activity choosen, and the design for depicting this task was to show a women milking a Holsteins cow with a milking machine. The selection of a woman in duty adds the topic of gender equality at job, that around the globe it is a problem still unsolved.

The design of the stamps shows the scene of a woman wearing rubber gloves connecting the teatcups of the milking machine on cow teats. Behind she, there are three steel milk churns, and far away another cow is laying in the grass that cover half the desing of the stamp, leaving the other half to a bright sky.

The right of rural works enshrined in law 18.441 were: Limitation of labour to 8 hours a day; Payment of overtime for time which exceeds the legal time; Intermediate rest for continuous-time workers; Free day between 12 hours labour days; Weekly free day.

Other rural worker rights that are not included in law 18.441, however very important for them are: Freedom of union association; Collective bargaining; Participation in the Councils of wage.

A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting of animal milk – mostly from cows or goats, but also from buffalo, sheep, horses or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on a dedicated dairy farm or section of a multi-purpose farm that is concerned with the harvesting of milk.

Milk producing animals have been domesticated for thousands of years. Initially, they were part of the subsistence farming that nomads engaged in. As the community moved about the country, their animals accompanied them. Protecting and feeding the animals were a big part of the symbiotic relationship between the animals and the herders.

In the more recent past, people in agricultural societies owned dairy animals that they milked for domestic and local (village) consumption, a typical example of a cottage industry. The animals might serve multiple purposes (for example, as a draught animal for pulling a plough as a youngster, and at the end of its useful life as meat). In this case the animals were normally milked by hand and the herd size was quite small, so that all of the animals could be milked in less than an hour—about 10 per milker. These tasks were performed by a dairymaid (dairywoman) or dairyman. The word dairy harkens back to Middle English dayerie, deyerie, from deye (female servant or dairymaid) and further back to Old English dæge (kneader of bread).

With industrialisation and urbanisation, the supply of milk became a commercial industry, with specialised breeds of cattle being developed for dairy, as distinct from beef or draught animals. Initially, more people were employed as milkers, but it soon turned to mechanisation with machines designed to do the milking.

Historically, the milking and the processing took place close together in space and time: on a dairy farm. People milked the animals by hand; on farms where only small numbers are kept, hand-milking may still be practiced. Hand-milking is accomplished by grasping the teats (often pronounced tit or tits) in the hand and expressing milk either by squeezing the fingers progressively, from the udder end to the tip, or by squeezing the teat between thumb and index finger, then moving the hand downward from udder towards the end of the teat. The action of the hand or fingers is designed to close off the milk duct at the udder (upper) end and, by the movement of the fingers, close the duct progressively to the tip to express the trapped milk. Each half or quarter of the udder is emptied one milk-duct capacity at a time.

The stripping action is repeated, using both hands for speed. Both methods result in the milk that was trapped in the milk duct being squirted out the end into a bucket that is supported between the knees (or rests on the ground) of the milker, who usually sits on a low stool.

Traditionally the cow, or cows, would stand in the field or paddock while being milked. Young stock, heifers, would have to be trained to remain still to be milked. In many countries, the cows were tethered to a post and milked. The problem with this method is that it relies on quiet, tractable beasts, because the hind end of the cow is not restrained.

When it became necessary to milk larger cows, the cows would be brought to a shed or barn that was set up with bails (stalls) where the cows could be confined while they were milked. One person could milk more cows this way, as many as 20 for a skilled worker. But having cows standing about in the yard and shed waiting to be milked is not good for the cow, as she needs as much time in the paddock grazing as is possible. It is usual to restrict the twice-daily milking to a maximum of an hour and a half each time. It makes no difference whether one milks 10 or 1000 cows, the milking time should not exceed a total of about three hours each day for any cow.

As herd sizes increased there was more need to have efficient milking machines, sheds, milk-storage facilities (vats), bulk-milk transport and shed cleaning capabilities and the means of getting cows from paddock to shed and back.

Farmers found that cows would abandon their grazing area and walk towards the milking area when the time came for milking. This is not surprising as, in the flush of the milking season, cows presumably get very uncomfortable with udders engorged with milk, and the place of relief for them is the milking shed.

Most dairy farmers milk their cows with absolute regularity at a minimum of twice a day, with some high-producing herds milking up to four times a day to lessen the weight of large volumes of milk in the udder of the cow. This daily milking routine goes on for about 300 to 320 days per year that the cow stays in milk. Some small herds are milked once a day for about the last 20 days of the production cycle but this is not usual for large herds. If a cow is left unmilked just once she is likely to reduce milk-production almost immediately and the rest of the season may see her dried off (giving no milk) and still consuming feed for no production. However, once-a-day milking is now being practised more widely in New Zealand for profit and lifestyle reasons. This is effective because the fall in milk yield is at least partially offset by labour and cost savings from milking once per day. This compares to some intensive farm systems in the United States that milk three or more times per day due to higher milk yields per cow and lower marginal labor costs.

Farmers who are contracted to supply liquid milk for human consumption (as opposed to milk for processing into butter, cheese, and so on—see milk) often have to manage their herd so that the contracted number of cows are in milk the year round, or the required minimum milk output is maintained. This is done by mating cows outside their natural mating time so that the period when each cow in the herd is giving maximum production is in rotation throughout the year.

Northern hemisphere farmers who keep cows in barns almost all the year usually manage their herds to give continuous production of milk so that they get paid all year round. In the southern hemisphere the cooperative dairying systems allow for two months on no productivity because their systems are designed to take advantage of maximum grass and milk production in the spring and because the milk processing plants pay bonuses in the dry (winter) season to carry the farmers through the mid-winter break from milking. It also means that cows have a rest from milk production when they are most heavily pregnant. Some year-round milk farms are penalised financially for over-production at any time in the year by being unable to sell their overproduction at current prices.

Holsteins (also known as Holstein-Friesians) are a breed of cattle known today as the world's highest-production dairy animals. Originating in Europe, Friesians were bred in what is now the Netherlands and more specifically in the two northern provinces of North Holland and Friesland, and northern Germany, more specifically what is now Schleswig-Holstein. The animals were the regional cattle of the Frisians and the Saxons. The Dutch breeders bred and oversaw the development of the breed with the goal of obtaining animals that could best use grass, the area's most abundant resource. Over the centuries, the result was a high-producing, black-and-white dairy cow. It is black and white due to artificial selection by the breeders.

With the growth of the New World markets began to develop for milk in North America, and dairy breeders turned to the Netherlands for their livestock. After about 8,800 Friesians (black pied Germans) had been imported, disease problems in Europe led to the cessation of imports to the United States.

In Europe, the breed is used for milk in the north, and meat in the south. Since 1945, European national development has led to cattle breeding and dairy products becoming increasingly regionalized. More than 80% of dairy production is to be found to the north of a line joining Bordeaux and Venice, where more than 60% of the total cattle numbers are found. This change led to the need for specialized animals for dairy (and beef) production. Until this time, milk and beef had been produced from dual-purpose animals. The breeds, national derivatives of the Dutch Friesian, had become very different animals from those developed by breeders in the United States, who used Holsteins only for dairy production.

Breeders imported specialized dairy Holsteins from the United States to cross with the European black and whites. For this reason, in modern usage, "Holstein" is used to describe North American stock and its use in Europe, particularly in the North. "Friesian" denotes animals of a traditional European ancestry, bred for both dairy and beef use. Crosses between the two are described by the term "Holstein-Friesian".

Holsteins have distinctive markings and outstanding milk production. They are large, black-and-white marked animals that vary from mostly black to mostly white, or they can also be red and white.

A healthy calf weighs 40 to 45 kg or more at birth. A mature Holstein cow typically weighs 580 kg (1280 pounds), and stands 147 cm (58 inches) tall at the shoulder. Holstein heifers should be bred by 13 to 15 months of age, when they weigh over 360 kg (794 pounds). Generally, breeders plan for Holstein heifers to calve for the first time between 23 and 26 months of age. The gestation period is about nine and a half months.

Milking machines are used to harvest milk from cows when manual milking becomes inefficient or labour intensive. One early model was patented in 1907. The milking unit is the portion of a milking machine for removing milk from an udder. It is made up of a claw, four teatcups, (Shells and rubber liners) long milk tube, long pulsation tube, and a pulsator. The claw is an assembly that connects the short pulse tubes and short milk tubes from the teatcups to the long pulse tube and long milk tube. (Cluster assembly) Claws are commonly made of stainless steel or plastic or both. Teatcups are composed of a rigid outer shell (stainless steel or plastic) that holds a soft inner liner or inflation. Transparent sections in the shell may allow viewing of liner collapse and milk flow. The annular space between the shell and liner is called the pulse chamber.

Milking machines work in a way that is different from hand milking or calf suckling. Continuous vacuum is applied inside the soft liner to massage milk from the teat by creating a pressure difference across the teat canal (or opening at the end of the teat). Vacuum also helps keep the machine attached to the cow. The vacuum applied to the teat causes congestion of teat tissues (accumulation of blood and other fluids). Atmospheric air is admitted into the pulsation chamber about once per second (the pulsation rate) to allow the liner to collapse around the end of teat and relieve congestion in the teat tissue. The ratio of the time that the liner is open (milking phase) and closed (rest phase) is called the pulsation ratio.

The four streams of milk from the teatcups are usually combined in the claw and transported to the milkline, or the collection bucket (usually sized to the output of one cow) in a single milk hose. Milk is then transported (manually in buckets) or with a combination of airflow and mechanical pump to a central storage vat or bulk tank. Milk is refrigerated on the farm in most countries either by passing through a heat-exchanger or in the bulk tank, or both.

Milking machines keep the milk enclosed and safe from external contamination. The interior 'milk contact' surfaces of the machine are kept clean by a manual or automated washing procedures implemented after milking is completed. Milk contact surfaces must comply with regulations requiring food-grade materials (typically stainless steel and special plastics and rubber compounds) and are easily cleaned.

Most milking machines are powered by electricity but, in case of electrical failure, there can be an alternative means of motive power, often an internal combustion engine, for the vacuum and milk pumps.

A milk churn is a tall, conical or cylindrical container for the transportation of milk. It is sometimes referred to as a milk can.

Milk was originally distributed in 'pails', a lidded bucket with a handle. Often two pails would be carried on either end of a wooden yoke. Once the railways started carrying milk the pail proved less than ideal as it was top-heavy and tended to spill. Dairy farmers used a tall conical wooden container - a butter churn - to 'churn' the milk to make butter, and this proved to be preferable for the railways to transport. It held a lot more milk (about seventeen gallons) and its conical shape made it less likely to spill or topple over. These wooden churns were intrinsically heavy however and from the 1850s a steel version was introduced and soon became the standard. The name churn was retained for these containers although they were not themselves used for 'churning' butter.

As with British Railway Milk Tank Wagons. the milk churn was a standard size, the older galvanised iron conical type held 17 gallons, whilst the cylindrical type with the mushroom shaped lid introduced in the 1930s held ten gallons. Each churn carried a brass plate near the top to identify the owning company and when full it would have a white paper label (tied to the handle on the lid of the conical type and to the side handle of the cylindrical type), which was used for accounting purposes by the creamery or dairy.

Block:

The block, although it did not add any more topics, it has the peculiarity that all of the last autoadhesive blocks issued by Uruguay is presenting. This singularity is that, in autoadhesive issues, the perforation that generally exist between the stamps in the border of the block and the limit of the block itself, in this issues did not exist, creating many variations of the stamps in the block.

The variations generated are many. The most common, and the one that we could consider as the most representative stamp of the block, is the variation of the stamps that are not in the borders of the block, the block of 3x3 that is located in the center of the stamp.

Then, the other variations, in order of frequency in the block, are the three center stamps of the first column, having larger left margins, the three center in the fifth column having larger right margins, also the three center stamps of the fifth row, that present arger bottom margins.

There is also, as you already had imagined, the three center stamps of the first row, with the top margin extended, however, although the the ones of row two and three are equal, the other is a particular one, as it has the block number in it.

Finally, the four stamps of the corners, are each one a different variation of the stamp. Stamp at row-col position one-one has left and top margin extended, the one at position one-five has right and left margins augmented and also it includes the four squares to show the ink colours used to print the block. After that the remaining variation are the ones at position five-one, and five-five, with left and bottom, and right and bottom, margin increased respectively.

FDC:

The desing of the First Day Cancelation for all the permanent series is the same for a period of time. It is a fixed design that has a configurable date, that is set to the date of issue of each permanent serie stamp released.

The actual design chosen, is the one used since year 2012, and it shows a frontiers only map of Uruguay.

If you consider that there are another topics in this stamp, that were not spot in this review, you are encouraged to telling me about them, so please do not hesitate to post a comment. I would appreciate your help very much.