Every dairy farmer appreciates the service of a good milking machine. In fact, every farmer NEEDS only the best portable milking machine at the farm. Farmers who appreciate technology use milking machines for milking cows, goats, sheep and the other dairy animals they keep at the farm.
Machine milking has many advantages for the farmer including reducing the amount of labor required for hand milking. It cuts down the costs of operation and reduces the time required for milking.
Milk harvesting involves removal of milk from animals, transporting it to the storage chamber, and keeping it safe until such a time that the milk is ready for processing.
Even though the milk storage and cooling compartments are not part of the milking machine per se, they are essential for maintaining high quality of the product.
It makes no economic sense to have the best milking machine for milking high quality milk only to end up with a deteriorated quality due to poor storage.
A milking machine consists of several basic component groups that work together for an effective operation. They include:
All the parts complement each other for the functionality of the machine. The milking unit does the actual extraction of milk from the teats.
The milking unit on its own also consists of several parts that enables it to imitate the hand to extract milk. Let's have a closer look to understand how it works.
Machine milking has many advantages for the farmer including reducing the amount of labor required for hand milking. It cuts down the costs of operation and reduces the time required for milking.
Milk harvesting involves removal of milk from animals, transporting it to the storage chamber, and keeping it safe until such a time that the milk is ready for processing.
Even though the milk storage and cooling compartments are not part of the milking machine per se, they are essential for maintaining high quality of the product.
It makes no economic sense to have the best milking machine for milking high quality milk only to end up with a deteriorated quality due to poor storage.
Features of the best portable milking machine include:
- One that is able to remove milk from the animal quickly
- Gentle and does not cause injury to the teats/udder
- Ease of cleaning and sanitation to avoid causing/spreading udder infections
- Safe to operate and does not degrade milk quality from the time of milking to delivery
- One whose design facilitates ease of use. Availability of technical assistance and/or spare parts for easy maintenance.
- Depending on the size of your herd, you may prefer to have a single or double milker.
Components of the milking machine
To understand how you can tell apart the qualities of the best milking machine, we should begin by dissecting the machine to know the features to focus on.A milking machine consists of several basic component groups that work together for an effective operation. They include:
- Milking units
- Vacuum production and control system
- Milk transport system
- Cleaning and sanitation systems
All the parts complement each other for the functionality of the machine. The milking unit does the actual extraction of milk from the teats.
The milking unit on its own also consists of several parts that enables it to imitate the hand to extract milk. Let's have a closer look to understand how it works.
The milking unit has several parts including:
- Four teat cups for cows (and two for goats, sheep, etc.). Each of the teat cups has a soft rubber liner mounting on the metal or plastic shell; this rubber lining is the only part of the machine that comes into contact with the udder.
- The claw, which collects milk from all of the teat cups
- Pulsation chamber. The pulsator uses air and vacuum to create pulsation, which creates suction force to draw milk from the teats.
- Connecting tubes for both air and milk.