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The milking routine
The dairy cows are milked twice a day – at approximately 5.00 am and 3.30 pm.
During the summer the cows are out at grass and they have to be collected from the field. Someone - whether it is David, the dairyman Kenny or someone else - has to go out no matter what the weather and bring the cows in. Mind you, there is always a helper on hand - the farm always has a collie or two to act as cow dogs.
Portnellan has a ‘herringbone parlour’ – which means that the cows come into the parlour head first but with their tails pointing into the centre where the dairyman stands. They are fed some ‘cattle cake’ – organic of course – while they are milked.
The first thing is to make sure that the cows’ teats are clean so they are sprayed with iodine disinfectant and wiped dry with a paper towel. Each towel is used only once.
Then the dairyman strips the foremilk out of the teats. This is to check that the milk is healthy – free from clots or discoloration. Once satisfied that all is well with the udder and that the teats are clean and dry, the milking machine is put onto the cow.
There are four teats and four cups on the milking machine cluster. Each cup applies a gentle pulsating suction to the cow’s teats to extract the milk, which flows along an enclosed pipeline to the big milk tank (bulk tank) in the dairy, where it is pre-cooled and refrigerated. It is stored in the bulk tank until the tanker collects it early in the morning.
Once the cow has given all her milk the cluster is automatically removed, which prevents the cow’s teats being damaged by too much suction. Her teats are then treated with a long-acting iodine dip to prevent any infection entering the udder.
The cows then wander out of the parlour – nothing is done at speed - and they go off to get a good feed of silage (this is a type of preserved grass). In the summer they will go out to a field for the night; during the winter, they will stay inside in the cubicle house. This has lots of cosy stalls or cubicles for them to lie in when they are not feeding.
We consider it important that the cows are allowed to take life at their own pace and this contributes to their quiet demeanour.

Bringing the cows in for milking
  

Beowulf, who was a very talented cow dog.
Skye, our 1 year old collie from Wester Ross,
misses him but looks like being a worthy successor
 

Grass is cut in the summer and preserved to make a natural  and nutritious feed of silage for the cows


Portnellan cows are very gentle and enjoy human company