← Cows H27-05 · Module 5 of 7 · Pages: 20 · Worksheets: 6

Milking: by hand and by machine

Lactation, udder preparation, hand milking and the bucket milker, washing, cooling, mastitis and the CMT, drying off and safety with a cow that kicks

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Milking: by hand and by machine

In short

  • Milk at the same times, roughly 12 hours apart (at most 10 and 14). Cows like routine.
  • Prepare the udder for 60–90 seconds, then milk straight away. The milk "lets down" for roughly 5–7 minutes.
  • First squirts into a black strip cup: clots, watery milk or blood mean mastitis.
  • By hand: with the whole hand, never stripping the teat. Machine: vacuum and liners as the maker says, liners changed on time.
  • Milk to 4–6 °C (39–43 °F) within 2 hours, pasteurised for drinking and soft cheese (H40-01).
  • Milk from a cow under treatment doesn't go to the house or for sale until the withdrawal period is over. Write it down and label it.

What's inside

Chapters

  1. Lactation: how much and how long
  2. Place and kit for milking
  3. Preparing the udder
  4. Hand milking step by step
  5. Machine milking
  6. Washing the machine and kit
  7. Straining and cooling
  8. Mastitis and the CMT
  9. Drying off
  10. Safety while milking
  11. Common mistakes
  12. Printable checklist

Worksheets

  • Milk diary
  • Lactation summary
  • CMT and treatment
  • Washing and maintenance schedule
  • Milk and kit calculator
  • The dairy year: calendar

Fields and checkboxes can be filled in with Adobe Acrobat Reader (desktop and mobile), and the calculator adds up by itself. Filling in may not work in some browsers. A print version comes with the screen PDF.

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