In order for a cow to bring large milk yields, its owners must master the milking technique perfectly. Proper milking allows you to increase the yield of milk, improves its quality and prevents mastitis.
Hand milking
If you have not got a milking machine, use the old proven method - milk the cow by hand. This process is simple, but it takes time and diligence, and most importantly - compliance with technology.
Training
Milking will be easier if you immediately establish trusting contact with the animal. Cows perfectly distinguish people, they know their milker, recognize him by voice, sight and smell. Rules to help milk milk successfully:
- Do not scare the burenka, do not go behind, go so that it sees you - otherwise it may be scared.
- Be sure to pet her, say a few kind words, call by name.
- Tie a cow. If necessary, confuse the back pair of legs. Lock the tail.
To prevent bacteria from getting into the milk from the udder and hands of the milker, observe the rules of hygiene:
- remove the dung in the stall;
- ventilate the room;
- make a clean bucket and mug;
- put on clean overalls, a cap or a scarf on your head;
- wash your hands;
- with the help of laundry soap, wash the udder - this will soften it.
It is necessary to wash the udder with water at 40 ° C - this coincides with the body temperature of the cow. If you use hot water for washing, milk may curl.
Take a clean and dry towel and wipe the washed udder. Hands should also be dry. Sit on a low stool and place a bucket under the udder. For reliability, you can clamp the bowl with your feet.
Massage
To stimulate the delivery of milk, it is recommended to massage the udder with light stroking movements. The duration of the massage is about a minute. Without being too lazy, and not taking the time, you can milk all the milk to the drop. When the udder is massaged, the production of a hormone, relaxing nipples, begins in the cow. If you do not massage before milking, milk yield will decrease.
Massaging the udder reduces milking time and increases milk yield by 15%.
After milk is milked, they again massage, which:
- prevents mastitis - this is a disease that represents the main problem in dairy farming;
- enhances ovarian function, which contributes to successful fertilization;
- nulliparous heifers begin to do massage a few months before calving, a month before calving, massaging is stopped.
Technique and rules of milking
There are two options for manual milking:
- with two fingers - “tweaks”;
- whole palm.
To prevent excessive friction, you can lubricate your hands with Vaseline - milking will be easier.
The choice of equipment is the job of the milker, it is important to follow these rules:
- you can not bend the nipples during milking;
- milk should not get on fingers;
- the first portion is not poured into a bucket, but into a specially prepared mug - this will reduce the number of bacteria in milk;
- it is necessary to strain out to the very end - so that not a drop remains, otherwise mastitis cannot be avoided;
- nipples compress with a frequency of 70-100 movements per minute;
- you need to milk each nipple.
To increase milk yield and avoid mastitis, you need to milk at the same time.
Each nipple is milked, since the udder is divided into lobes, between which a septum. Milk does not flow from one lobe to another. Remember the milking order - first the front and then the rear lobes of the udder are milked.
Two finger milking
This technique is suitable exclusively for young cows with short nipples. The method is less convenient than milking with a full fist, but it happens that you have to use it. Pinch milking technique:
- Holding the nipple with your fingers - forefinger and thumb, perform translational movements from top to bottom.
- Manipulations should be soft and smooth - the animal should not experience pain.
The plucking technique can provoke elongation and trauma of the nipples - because of this, the cow can be irritable and even aggressive.
Milking with a fist (full palm)
Milking with a fist (full hand) is used more often, it is more convenient for the milker and not as traumatic as pinching. Technique of execution:
- Take two hands on the nipple - each should fit entirely in a fist. The base of the nipples should be between the fingers - index and thumb.
- Pulling the nipples down, compress their bases. First, only the top two, and then all at once.
- Trickles of milk push the outputs in a wavy motion. It is strictly forbidden to bend or pull the nipples. The jet should hit the bottom of the bucket strictly vertically.
- Each trickle should be squeezed to the end - you must not allow milk to return.
- Rub the udder - the hands move from top to bottom, and then from the edge to the center. The remains of milk give out.
- Wipe the udder with a dry, clean cloth, generously smeared with Vaseline - so that the skin softens and calms down. Untie - if attached. They remove the fetters from their feet.
It is unprincipled which nipples to give out first. You can take nipples diagonally. It happens that some are uncomfortable with two hands at once. Then you can milk the nipples one at a time - in any order.
After milking, you can treat the burenka delicious - to reinforce its trust in the milker and in the process itself.
The milkmaid girl will tell and clearly demonstrate how to properly prepare for milking, and how to milk a cow completely without harming her:
Hardware milking
Using milking machines is cost-effective if you have at least several cows.
Their advantages:
- The process speeds up - this is an invaluable quality if there are a lot of cows.
- Labor costs are reduced - the cost of milk is reduced.
- Hygiene standards are followed. When using milking machines, the suction cups must be clean, and the container in which the milk is collected tightly closed so that trash and wool do not get into it.
- The quality of the products increases, since the udder is massaged during milking. Separation is carried out to the last drop.
- Electricity consumption is small - the devices are economical.
How to choose the right appatite?
Milking machines are distinguished by technical characteristics, design and application features. All devices are divided by functionality into:
- Industrial. They have a powerful engine. Several cows can be raised simultaneously. They are large in size and equipped with automatic control.
- Household. Designed for 1-2 animals. Their advantage is the ability to fine tune for a specific burenka.
Milk is taken by any device according to one scheme. First you need to check and prepare the device:
- When the engine is turned on, the pump starts, creating a vacuum in the vacuum line.
- Wait 5 minutes - until the pressure rises.
- Listen to noise - if there are extraneous sounds, the device is turned off and troubleshoot.
How to teach a burenka to the device?
Before proceeding with hardware milking, you should consult your veterinarian - if there are any contraindications. Cows, previously issued by hands, are trained gradually. There should not be drastic changes - animals will be scared, milk yield will fall. The first thing to teach a cow is noise. Buzz is the main minus of machine milking. How to teach:
- When you milk the burenka with your hands, turn on the machine - let it hum.
- First calves should be trained a couple of months before calving. To do this, turn on the device, and stroke the udder and nipples.
The addiction needs to be fixed during manual milking - in the mornings, in the middle of the day and in the evening. The process is conducted in the room where it is supposed to carry out milking.
Animals frightened by the noise of the apparatus must be reassured, offer delicious food - salted bread. The noise is removed for a while. When the cow calms down and eats, the apparatus is turned on again and bread is again given to the cows. What you need to know:
- Machine milking is contraindicated if the udder or nipples are damaged.
- You can not apply in turn manual and machine milking - milk yield will decrease.
Milking machine
For milking, a previously washed apparatus is used. Milking procedure:
- They washed the udders of the cow, wiped it dry, and massaged.
- When the cow calms down and milk production begins, the milking unit is turned on.
- When the pressure reaches the required values - they are indicated in the instructions, put on glasses. Care must be taken to prevent air from entering the glasses.
- Milking lasts 5 minutes. When the milk begins to be absorbed, lower the pressure. The pulsation frequency should not exceed 60 cycles per minute (the vacuum in the collector is 37-41 kPa).
- When the jets reduce the intensity, the collector is slightly pulled down, and then returned to its place - this will allow to milk the residual milk.
- When the udder softens, becomes flabby, the device is turned off. If you wait a little longer, the glasses will fall off themselves.
- Check the condition of the nipples, pour the milk and wash the milking machine.
An educational video that clearly shows how machine milking is done. The specialist talks about the intricacies of the technique:
How often is a cow milked?
How many times a day to milk a burenka, its owner decides. The age and health of the animal is taken into account. The minimum frequency of milking is 2 times a day. What you need to know when accustoming a cow to milking:
- The first heifers, the first two weeks, issue 4 times a day.
- Then reduce the number of milks to 3 per day.
Do not break the intervals between milking. If the regime is two-time, the interval is no more than 12 hours, if three-time - no more than 9 hours.
High-yield cows need to be milked three times a day, this will allow:
- keep milk volumes at a high level;
- avoid stagnation of milk.
What are the mistakes?
At first glance, there is nothing difficult in milking; the main thing is that the cow should not be angry or frightened. But there are little things that can harm milk delivery.
Hand Milking Errors
Most errors are related to the milking mode and technique:
- Violation of the usual milking regimen - can lead to mastitis, sepsis, death.
- Incomplete emptying of the udder. Leaving milk in the nipples - its quality is reduced.
- Approach to the cow on the left side. You need to approach on the right.
Errors in machine milking
If the cow is not prepared for milking, the device will quickly remove the cistern milk, and then work is idle. This happens until the movement of the device does not cause a reflex again.
“Idle milking” causes pain, milk delivery is inhibited. Lingering in the udder, it reduces milk yield and harms the state of the udder - this leads to inflammation and mastitis. During milking, it is impossible to slow down milk production by the conditioned-reflex method, it is prohibited:
- rough treatment;
- painful irritation of the nipples;
- change of place and time of milking.
With any type of milking - manual or machine, it is important to comply with hygiene requirements, perform all preparatory measures and follow the milking technique exactly. With large-scale milk production, the milking machine is an indispensable thing. If there are one or two cows in the farm, you can get by with manual milking.