(Newswire.net — September 11, 2021) –When people think about milking cows, they might imagine a farmer sitting on a stool squeezing milk from a cow’s udders into a bucket. While it is still certainly possible to milk a cow by hand, the modern milking process often involves special milking machines that can milk hundreds of cows in a day. Let’s take a look at the process behind milking cows and how it has improved over the years.
Milking Parlors
On most large dairy farms, cows are milked in large buildings called milking parlors. A milking parlor can house and milk several cows at once. In a traditional parallel milking parlor, cows are herded into specific stations that are separated by workers. Once a cow is herded into her station, her udders are cleaned with iodine, and suction tubes are attached to the udders. The tubes gently suction milk from the teats and detach once the suction is complete. The workers clean the udders one last time before the cow is herded out of the milking parlor. The entire process usually takes less than 15 minutes, which allows hundreds of cows to be milked two to three times a day. The milk itself is stored in a tank where it can be kept cool until it can be processed and made fit for human consumption.
Robotic Milking
Dairy farms have relied on traditional milking machines for the last 100 years or so, but there is an alternate process that can be used instead called robotic milking. With this method, robotic milking machines are placed in the barn with the cows have access to them 24 hours a day. This allows the cows to choose when they want to be milked. When a cow decides she wants to be milked, the robotic milker cleans the udder automatically, gently extracts the milk from her teat, and may even provide a treat of pellets to provide positive reinforcement. This method is especially ideal for cows who might need to be milked more often.
Why Milking is Good for Cows
Some people have questioned whether or not milking is actually good for cows. After all, they are technically hooked up to machines two to three times a day to have milk extracted from them, which sounds like it might be painful. The truth is that milking is good for cows and allows them to get rid of excess milk. Like all mammals, cows produce milk so they can nurse their young, but they often produce more milk than their calves need. Producing this much milk is uncomfortable, which is why dairy cows need to be milked two to three times every day. In fact, many cows enjoy being milked and will have a preferred station in milking parlors or preferred times to use robotic milkers. While dairy farms technically exist to provide milk for human consumption, they also help keep cows happy and healthy by reducing the weight of their udders and allowing them to continue to produce milk, a far cry from a process that is thought to harm cattle.