Thru's a Cow's Eye

Thru's a Cow's Eye

This photo was taken at the Royal Melbourne Show 2006. There was some cows and a milking stand where I guess there are certain "show" times where they will milk the cow and show the kids where their tetra-packed chilled milk comes from. The milking station looks like a machined milking station. I had went actually wanting to see the racing pig show but I missed it.

Milking is the act of removing milk from the mammary glands of an animal, typically cows (cattle) and goats. A rarely used term for the milking of cows is vaccimulgence, derived from the Latin words vacca ("cow") and emulgere ("to milk out"). Milking is also used to describe the removal of venom from spiders and snakes, for the production of antivenom.

Cows can be milked by hand or by machine.

Hand milking is performed by massaging and pulling down on the teats of the cow's udder, squirting the milk into a bucket.

(courtesy wikipedia.com)

Milking machines work in a way that is different from hand milking or calf suckling. Continuous vacuum is applied inside the soft liner to withdraw 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) and closed (massaging or resting) 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 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 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.

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 procedure 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. Milk cows cannot tolerate delays in scheduled milking without serious milk production reductions.

(courtesy wikipedia.com)