Milking Machines. A Comprehensive Guide for Farmers, Herdsmen and Students

186 Pages·1981·7.922 MB·English

by  F. R. Lowe (Auth.)

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Milking Machines
A Comprehensive Guide for
Farmers, Herdsmen and Students
By
F. R. Lowe
Senior Fieldsman
Milk Marketing Board
U.K.
PERGAMON PRESS
OXFORD • NEW YORK • TORONTO • SYDNEY • PARIS • FRANKFURT
U.K. Pergamon Press Ltd., Headington Hill Hall,
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FEDERAL REPUBLIC Pergamon Press GmbH, 6242 Kronberg-Taunus,
OF GERMANY Hammerweg 6, Federal Republic of Germany
Copyright © 1981 Pergamon Press Ltd.
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in
any form or by any means: electronic, electrostatic,
magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without permission in writing from the
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First edition 1981
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Lowe, F R
Milking machines. - (Pergamon international
library).
1. Milking machines
I. Title
637*. 125 SF247 80-41423
ISBN 0-08-024381-9 (Hardcover)
ISBN 0-08-024382-7 (Flexicover)
Printed in Great Britain by A. Wheaton 9 Co. Ltd., Exeter
Acknowledgements
I AM INDEBTED to the milking machine manufacturers for their unstinting co-operation in
providing me with technical information on their plant design, materials, layout, etc., for
the compilation of this book.
The Agricultural Training Board and the Milk Marketing Board have also played an im-
portant part in the assembly of information.
To the National Agricultural Advisory Service, Dairy Husbandry Department and the
British Standards Institution Council for Codes of Practice and the National Institute for
Research Dairying, I wish to express my appreciation and thanks for their diligent labours in
probing into the problems which surround the dairy herd, then publishing their findings
which, I must admit, I have had to refer to on a number of occasions as either a memory jog-
ger or to clarify a particular point.
To Wendy Towers I wish to express my thanks as she is the one who put the whole jumble
together and did an excellent job of deciphering my scribble and the donkey work of pound-
ing the typewriter.
To Mr E. Tipping for scrutinising the technical correctness of the book and to Mr. C. B.
Jevons and Mr. J.R. Notman for giving me a practical dairy farmer's viewpoint on the work,
I am extremely grateful.
V
Introduction
MILKING machines are becoming more and more complex and manufacturers are constantly
striving to improve their products in either design refinements, use of new materials or in the
application of new ideas and progressions of logical thought. Product refinement generates
healthy competition between the manufacturers, and the farmer who buys the plant, the
herdsman who works the plant and the cows milked by the plant can only benefit from
technical developments.
This book is designed to be read by farmers, herdsmen and agricultural college students,
who all have an interest either directly or indirectly in milking machines. I cannot have
background knowledge of the individual reader; some may never have seen a milking
machine; others may well have been milking cows for 40 years and will, of course, have
decided opinions of their own. So please bear with me, if in your opinion I tend to labour
what is to you a quite elementary point. If the really experienced milking-machine operator
can pick up only one point in the book to add to his already extensive know-how, then I will
be content.
In doing the illustrations for the book, I have omitted all the details that were not perti-
nent to the point I was trying to convey, they would merely cloud the issue. What I have at-
tempted to illustrate are ideas and not facts.
ix
Chapter 1
Some Basic Facts About a Milking Machine
WE CALL it a milking machine; and being a machine it is prone to wear—it can malfunction;
it can break down; and it will eventually be outdated by technical improvements.
As a machine it is undoubtedly the most neglected piece of equipment on the farm; and,
if the farm is purely a dairy farm, then it is the most vital link in the chain between the land
which grows the crops and the bank account.
FIG. 1. The vital link in the chain.
The general attitude towards milking machines is to push the starter button at one end of
the plant and then plug the other end on to the cow, the bit in the middle might get a drop
of oil on occasion, but that is about all.
Ask a farmer who has this attitude to his milking machine to treat his tractor in the same
way and he would hold up his hands in horror and then go on to expound the theory that a
tractor needs regular servicing, maintenance and repairs. So does the milking machine.
Bear in mind that the milking machine on the other hand has got to milk cows twice a
day, no matter what happens. The average milking machine runs for 2 hours per milking,
twice a day, 365 days per year. That is 1460 hours per year. If we drove a car at a nice steady
50 m.p.h. for the same length of time that the milking machine is running then in that same
year the car would have done 73,000 miles and would have had over ten major services in
l
2 Milking Machines
that same time. The plant could have been added to. It could have been given more work to
do by adding extra components. Probably another unit or two, or automatic cluster
removal, etc., with the same old vacuum pump, still on the same vacuum line which after
these additions is, in all probability, too small a bore now that more work has been demand-
ed of it.
The make-up of a milking machine is such that it can be grossly neglected and will still get
milk—not all that is in the udder, and it will take an extremely long time to get the milk it
does, but nevertheless milk will flow. It is most unfortunate that this is so.
The effects of an inefficient milking machine are the same as the effects of sub-clinical
mastitis. It is money you do not get and what you do not get, you do not miss. The Milk
Marketing Board did a survey recently and looked at the whole spectrum of milking plants
in the U.K. They found tht 73% were faulty.
vacuum controller rubberware ilsators vacuum
pump 42% 8% line
27% interceptor milk units milk U%
8% pump 1Z21 line
id
/ / plant air
reserves 26%
/ /
/ / / / >/ '////// / / / / / / / / / / ' / / //
FIG. 2. Percentages of faulty components: MMB Survey.
The results in consequence of faulty milking machines are:
prolonged milking time;
lowered milk yields;
mastitis.
Not necesarily in that order; but whichever way they arrive in the dairy unit, they all cost
money.
LACK OF MAINTENANCE
Seventy-three per cent of the faults found by the MMB Survey were mainly due to lack of
maintenance of the plant. The plant was installed correctly and, had it been maintained
correctly, would still be functioning effectively. But, due in part to the apathy of the owner,
and partly to the herdsman's lack of knowing what to do and when, the plant efficiency
begins to decline.
Consider a dairy unit as a whole. All the buildings and machinery are ancillary to the
milking plant and are all subservient to it. If the milking machine is wrong, then all the
other equipment is not being exploited to the best advantage either.
THE HEART OF THE DAIRY UNIT
The milking machine is the heart of the dairy unit and is the most neglected and the
hardest worked item of equipment on the farm. It has got to go twice a day, if it does not,
then the whole enterprise grinds to an immediate halt. Those dairy farmers who have ex-
perienced power cuts in the past are fully aware of the chaos caused by plant failure.
Some Basic Facts About a Milking Machine 3
On a milking plant, total failure is a rare occurrence, due to the reliability of the design,
materials and the workmanship. An indication of this reliability is that many milking
machines are over 20 years old and are still effectively milking cows. However, the machine
is a mechanical device, and as such will need regular servicing and will eventually wear out
and have to be replaced. The wearing-out process on a plant is a gradual one and,
therefore, there is a general decline in efficiency. The falling off in efficiency is a gradual
process and the difference in handling a plant from day to day will pass unnoticed, until
some servicing or repair has been carried out and one can appreciate how slow the milking
has been. What has happened is that, as the plant slows down, the operator becomes con-
ditioned to the slower milking and so it passes unnoticed.
(1) Prolonged milking time
As the plant's efficiency declines, it takes longer and longer to milk the cows. The plant is
running longer, lights on, heaters on, etc. Fuel bills are up. The operator becomes tired and
stressed. Operator stress is most important and is to be avoided.
(2) Lower milk yields
Since the plant is not operating efficiently, the animals are not being completely milked
out during the let-down stimulus period and, consequently, yields are lower.
(3) Mastitis
With an inefficient plant, the tendency is to overmilk the cows and this will induce an out-
break of clinical mastitis in the herd. We will be considering this further.
As can be seen from these three items, which are the direct result of an inefficient milking
machine, it makes sense to have the plant serviced regularly and to replace or repair faulty
components as they occur.
REGULAR SERVICING AND TESTING
With the general lack of knowledge about milking plants, I propose to consider each com-
ponent of the plant as a separate item, explaining how it works and what can be done on the
farm with the tools and materials to hand to institute a regular servicing routine to keep the
plant running at peak efficiency.
Along with the regular servicing of the plant by farm staff, it is advisable to have the plant
tested at least annually. A plant with over 10 units would benefit from twice-yearly testing.
Plant testing services are carried out by the Milk Marketing Board, the milking machine
manufacturers and their local agents. The testers have the specialised knowledge and equip-
ment to check those parts of the plant that you are unable to check yourself, a^id to report to
you on their mechanical condition. That, coupled with regular servicing <^f the plant by
farm staff, should ensure that the milking machine is kept running at peajfc efficiency.
THE OBJECTS OF A MILKING MACHINE
The milking machine as we know it was patented by Mr Gillies, an Australian, in 1903.
This invention revolved around the use of a double-chambered teat cup under vacuum.
4 Milking Machines
The basic principles of a milking machine, namely a collapsible liner in a rigid shell, has
not altered in all its history. What has altered over the years is the plumbing and the iron-
work side of the machine, making the transition from a bucket milker to a herringbone
parlour possible. With the newer materials available and design improvements, plants these
days are more efficient in their extraction of milk; this makes it possible for one man to
handle a greater number of cows. The first parlour was introduced in 1930, the first
herringbone in 1956. But no matter what form the milking machine takes, they all work in
the same way.
BASIC REQUIREMENTS OF A MILKING PLANT
The machine should milk out the cows quickly and completely without pain or distress to
the animals. To achieve this, we need a good milking routine and a mechanically sound
plant.
(1) Good milking routine.
A good milking routine is where the operator works quietly and efficiently, establishes a
sound operating technique and sticks to it. Cows are creatures of habit and by sticking to a
set routine for every milking, the pre-milking technique becomes part of the let-down
stimulus. The let-down stimulus is a neurohormonal reflex which is triggered by a rigid
routine. The neural reflex is conditioned by that routine.
FIG. 3. Let-down stimulus in the cow.
At milking time, the cow is induced to let go of her milk by the normal milking routine,
feeding her concentrates, udder washing, etc. This will stimulate the cow's pituitary gland
on the base of the brain to release the hormone oxytocin into the bloodstream where it is
carried to the udder.
In the udder, the hormone has the effect of squeezing the alveolus or milk-secreting cells,
they eject their drops of milk into the ducts and so on to the main cisterns over each teat.
This is milk let-down, or to be more technically correct, milk ejection, and the cows need to
be trained to let down their milk to the machine.
The action of the oxytocin on the milk gland is at its peak after about 1 minute and the ef-
fects of the hormone will be worn off in about 7 to 8 minutes. So we have a milk let-down
stimulus curve shown in Fig. 5.
Some Basic Facts About a Milking Machine 5
FIG. 5. Milk let-down stimulus curve—high extraction rate.
The opposite is shown in Fig. 6 with a low extraction rate, due to a faulty milking
machine, the milk is removed over a far longer period.
FIG. 6. Milk let-down stimulus curve—low extraction rate.
(2) Mechanically sound plant
By this, we mean a plant that has a high rate of milk extraction, milks out cleanly and
does not cause discomfort or distress to the cow.