Cow Milking 101

Good morning class. Today our lesson is on the basics of cow milking.

Our farm milks 120 holsteins (black and white cows). We milk at 6:00AM and 5:00PM each day, seven days a week, and holidays too. The cows wait in a holding pen until a door opens to our milking parlor, at which time 8 cows are let in at a time.They file in to the stalls and have their udders and teats washed, sanitized, and dried before the milking machine is placed on them. It takes about 5 minutes to milk each cow. While this is happening, another 8 cows are brought in to fill the other side of the milking parlor. When the first 8 cows are finished, the milking machine is automatically removed and the person milking will again sanitize the teats. A door opens at the opposite end of the parlor, and out they go. Fifteen more rotations of this procedure, and we're done!

A cow can produce about 90 cups of milk each day. When the milk leaves the cow it is a warm 101 degrees. Sanitized pipelines carry the milk straight from the cow and milking machine to our bulk tank which holds 1,000 gallons, and cools the milk to 40 degrees. Our milk is picked up by a milk hauler (refrigerated tanker truck) every other day, and delivered to a local milk plant. The milk is never touched by human hands throughout this entire process. This helps to ensure that you can enjoy a wholesome, delicious dairy food. Our milk is in your grocery store within 2 days of leaving our farm.

Class, are there any questions? 

Your homework today is to enjoy a glass of cold milk. Class dismissed.