Modern-day Farm Chick

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How Do You Milk a Cow?

March 10, 2014

Have you ever wondered how cows are milked and how it differs from the past?  It is pretty neat and technology has really revolutionized the art of milking a cow. Way back, when my grandpa still had hair, cows were milked by hand into a bucket. It was a very time consuming and labor intensive job (hard on the knees!). It wasn’t long before farmers were dreaming of some sort of machine that could milk cows and speed up the process. Soon, the first pulsator and vacuum milker were presented and deemed an effective way to milk dairy cows.

bucket

The dairy industry continued to evolve with new technology and in the 1960s pipeline milking systems replaced bucket milkers.  With a pipeline, farmers no longer had to carry and dump buckets of milk into the bulk tank, the milk would be carried through a pipe!  These milkers required less labor and were easier on the farmer doing the milking. Thousands of pipeline milking systems were installed between 1960 and 1970 as dairy herds continued to grow in size. The trend of fewer dairy farms with more cows continues today as does the advancement in technology.

Today, milking parlors and robots are the common milking systems on dairy farms. Milking parlors come in many shapes and sizes; on our farm one person is able to milk 16 cows at once and 530 cows in less than seven hours! I sure am glad we don’t have to milk them all by hand!

Our cows are milked three times a day; at 8:00 a.m., 4:00 p.m. and midnight. We bring the cows down to the milking parlor in groups and they get pretty excited when it is their turn to be milked. Cows enjoy being milked; not milking a cow results in an uncomfortable animal that is much more prone to develop mastitis. Check out our girls coming into the milking parlor:

After the cow enters the parlor, the first step is to clean and sanitize the teat. Cleaning the teat ensures clean, quality milk and decreases the cow’s chances of developing an infection. We clean the teats by brushing off any sand or debris and applying an iodine dip that kills bacteria.  Next, we use our hands to strip out a few streams of milk from each teat.  This stimulation sends a signal to the cow’s brain to let down her milk and speeds up milking time. We dip the teats again and let the dip do its work for about 40 seconds before wiping it off and attaching the milking unit. The milking units are automatic and retract when the cow’s milk flow decreases. We will dip the teats again for protection and then send the cow on her way; it takes about five minutes to milk a cow. Today our cows were serenaded by some Latin tunes, but I think they like country music better.  Or maybe that’s just me.  Check it out:

After the cow is milked, she is able to return to her pen to eat, lay down and hangout with her friends. While the cows are in the milking parlor, we clean their pens, rake their beds of sand and bring fresh feed. The cows are milked three times per day, which means their pens are cleaned three times per day. I don’t even clean my room that often….if at all.

Technology and dairy farming have come a long way since the ol’ bucket and stool and it is a good thing! Can you imagine if we had to milk 500+ cows by hand each day?! It definitely would not be time efficient or profitable and the price of dairy products would be ridiculously pricey! Thank YOU, technology!

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Filed Under: Dairy farming 8 Comments

Comments

  1. Dean says

    March 10, 2014 at 1:03 pm

    Thank you bringing back memories of the not so good old days. Back then milking was only one of the many tasks associated with taking care of cows. They also had to be fed by hand cart and gutters cleaned by forking manure into bucket mounted on track or cable. I sure am glad we don’t have to do it that way any more.

    Reply
  2. Dean says

    March 11, 2014 at 1:34 am

    Thank for bringing back memories of the not so good old days. Back then milking was only one of the labor intensive tasks associated with taking care of the cows. I sure am glad we don’t have to do it that way any more.

    Reply
  3. cdmiller07 says

    March 14, 2014 at 5:43 pm

    I can’t say that I miss having my hands covered with some iodine dip substance. My brother’s were always some nasty, yellow tinted abhorrence haha.

    Reply
    • Modern Day Farm Chick says

      March 14, 2014 at 5:45 pm

      Haha! Yes iodine can dye your hands a nasty color! We always wear milking gloves which protects our hands and the cows’ teats! 🙂

      Reply
      • cdmiller07 says

        March 14, 2014 at 5:48 pm

        Apparently my family didn’t believe in such luxuries haha. The fools!

        Reply

Trackbacks

  1. NO MORE “FACTORY FARMS”! | Modern-day Farm Chick says:
    June 20, 2014 at 3:51 pm

    […] cows are milked three times per day, but they are never away from their pen for more than three hours a day.  We bring the cows to the […]

    Reply
  2. Down on the Farm | Modern-day Farm Chick says:
    July 16, 2014 at 3:57 pm

    […] cows are milked three times per day in a double 8 parallel parlor.  This means we can milk 16 cows at one […]

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  3. Defending Without Being Defensive | The Farmer's Granddaughter says:
    May 16, 2015 at 4:42 pm

    […] 4. Feces is not found in milk I’m not even sure what to say about this one except that it is wrong. Sanitation is a huge part of diary farming both before and after the cows are milked. If you would like some insight into how a cow is milked, go here. […]

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