Milking!

As most of you know, milking is a very important aspect of dairy farming. There are several different forms of milking. Lets start with the good old milking by hand. This is when you would lierally milk each cow seperately. No milking machines or parlors, all you had was your stool and pail.

Next is the Tandem, which is also known as a side opening parlor. In this set-up you are able to milk each cow and let them go as soon as they are finished. This set-up works well with slow milking cows because you will never have to hold up a whole line just because one cow takes very long. Alsom this parlor often has only one return alley.

The Herringbone, or Fishbone. In this set-up, the cows come in and stand sideways. They get milked from the side and must be let go of all at the same time. Here there is often only one return alley.

The Parallel Parlor. This is the one that we have at the moment. Here the cows come in and then stand side-by-side. You are milking them between their back legs. In our barn we milk in a double 10. We are able to let five go at a time and there are two return alleys.

Next is the Rotary Parlor. This can be either an inside or outside carousel. This is a circular platform that moves around slowly. For an inside rotary, the milker is on the inside. The cows come in and stand side-by-side with their heads towards the wall and you milk between their back legs. Then for an outside rotary, there is most often one person hanging machines and the other is making sure the cows are done before they leave.

                     INSIDE                                                     OUTSIDE

I hope I have been able to expand your knowledge on the different ways of milking! Let me know if there is anything else that you would like to know about!