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.
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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 |
