A good milking routine is critical to producing high-quality milk. If you get it right, you will not only have better quality milk, but cows will milk faster, give more milk and you should see less mastitis.
The aim of a good milking routine is to put the clusters on a calm cow with clean, dry, well-stimulated teats, to remove milk rapidly and to remove the teat cups as soon as the cow has finished milking.
Milking routine
It is important that cows are both calm and clean when they enter the milking parlour.
Cows will remain calm if the milker is calm; avoid shouting or sudden changes to the parlour or collecting yard.
Many farms have the radio or music playing during milking which seems to help keep man and beast calm.
Cows with clinical mastitis, as well as those treated with antibiotics or with a high somatic cell counts (SCC) – should be clearly marked.
If a cow’s teats are dirty, the use of a dry wipe should be used to remove the dirt. This also offers an opportunity to check for any signs of mastitis or irregularities in the milk.
The time between manual stimulation to attachment of the clusters should be between 60–120 seconds.
Clusters
When attaching the clusters, it is important to ensuring they are squarely attached, aligned and balanced centrally.
If you have automatic cluster removers (ACRs) pull the cord, so it is not under tension.
The wearing of disposable gloves is recommended, you should keep them as clean as possible and replace them if they become too dirty or damaged.
Similarly, if clusters fall off and get dirty, it is important to clean the cluster before reattaching.
Removal of clusters
If you don’t have ACRs and you’re removing the cluster by hand, pinch off the vacuum line and wait a few seconds for the vacuum to drop.
Before the cluster falls off, twist the claw to break the seal and remove the cluster. Never pull off the cluster under vacuum and never break the vacuum at the mouthpiece of the liner.
Apply post-milking teat disinfectant, regularly checking that the majority of the teat skin of every teat is completely covered at the end of every milking.
Wash the parlour between rows – don’t wash while cows are in the parlour unless all the units are attached to cows.