Milkin' a Cow

Hi my name is Brady Wielenga and today I am going to teach you a little about how to milk a cow. I am a Dairy Science major I think it is important for people to know how our dairy products are harvested. I am going to show you the three steps to milk a cow. I think people need to be enlightened about the situation so the don’t think all of their dairy products are dangerous or that the animals are treated badly.

Some items that are needed are obviously a cow, iodine, hydrogen peroxide, a clean rag, and some form of milker.

Make sure all of the sand or wood chips are of the teat it is ok if there is manure on them before the hydrogen peroxide goes on. The hydrogen peroxide is used to sanitize the teat so that there are no bacteria on them. If there is then not only will the system have issues but it could harm the cow also.

Next strip each teat and wipe them. If there are any chunks or the milk is clear, do not put her milk into the bulk tank put her milk into a separate bucket. This is because if the milk is tainted then her milk is considered infected and this infection is called mastitis. That milk cannot be sold it is either feed to the calves after going through a pasteurizer or dumped down the drain.

Hook up the milking unit make sure the area is clean under her so the milking unit doesn’t suck up any manure or mud. If this happens it can get into the bulk tank or worse, it could clog the system. When this happens the system has a failsafe and it shuts the vacuum off. To fix this it takes around a half an hour sometimes longer.

Then after she is done milking then you will spray the iodine on. Make sure you cover each teat fully because this is your main defense against mastitis. If the cow gets mastitis then not only could she die but, she will have to be on meds that will not allow the cow to be on the main system. The cow could be on meds as long as one week but, on average it takes about three days.