The milking routine
Until we stopped milk production in 2010, our dairy cows
were milked twice a day
– at approximately 5.00 am and 3.30 pm.
During the summer the cows were out at grass and had to be collected from the field. Someone - whether it
was David, the dairyman or someone else - had to go out no matter what the weather and bring
the cows in. Mind you, there was always a
helper on hand - the farm always has a collie or two to
act as cow dogs.
Portnellan had a ‘herringbone parlour’ – which
meant that the cows come into the parlour head first but
with their tails pointing into the centre where the
dairyman stood. They were fed some ‘cattle cake’
– organic of course – while they were milked.
The first thing was to make sure that the cows’ teats
are clean so they were sprayed with iodine disinfectant and
wiped dry with a paper towel. Each towel was used
only once.
Then the dairyman stripped the foremilk out of
the teats. This was to check that the milk was healthy –
free from clots or discoloration.
Once satisfied that all was
well with the udder and that the teats were clean and dry,
the milking machine was put onto the cow.
There were four teats and four cups
on the milking machine cluster. Each cup applied
a gentle pulsating suction to the cow’s teats to
extract the milk, which flowed along an enclosed pipeline
to the big milk tank (bulk tank) in the dairy, where it
was pre-cooled and refrigerated. It was stored in the bulk
tank until the tanker collected it early in the morning.
Once the cow had given all her milk the cluster was
automatically removed, which prevented the cow’s teats
being damaged by too much suction.
Her teats were then treated
with a long-acting iodine dip to prevent any
infection entering the udder.
The cows then wandered out of the parlour – nothing was
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 would go out to a field for the night; during the
winter, they would 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 considered it important that the cows were allowed to
take life at their own pace and this contributed to
their quiet demeanour.
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Bringing
the cows in for milking
Beowulf, who was our former very talented cow dog.
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 |
