A Visit to A Milking Station.

 As Part of my research into doing the Milk Project, We start by visiting several Farms that do daily Milk collection to do a few things.

The First thing that we do is we actually have a look at Some Milk Cows. Now, Everybody has seen what a Milk Cow looks like because they see one printed on the side of the milk carton everytime they go to the fridge. Seeing them in Real life however is much different of course, the first thing that you must do is to get used to the fact that this thing is going to look at you as if you have some kind of problem with it, then it is going to get on its legs and 'Go Away'.

The next thing we are going to have a look at is the Milking Parlor. We will have a look at this Farms simple setup and also look at the buildings that he has constructed. We need to get a feel for the kinds of operation that he is conducting, on a daily basis and look at how the money is spent such that I have a rough idea of the types of equipment to buy, the structures to build and at the right quantity or sizes.


Animals

 This is a Guernsey Breed Milk Cow According to the owner
The average Amount of milk produced per day is 10 liters. It is seen here munching on the undergrowth. This is not the proper diet of the Animal of course. For a milk cow the diet has to be one consisting of high protein feed. For this case the proper feed would be Napier Grass.

 The Herd's Head Bull or else it is one of several studs kept by the farm, but I didn't see any others so I'll assume that this is the Dominant Male for this herd. Quite a cute fella actually, and this puny picture doesn't do any justice to my photography.






According to the owner several of the Animals are from across the Border to the North. This is one of them he says. I didn't see all of the animals so I'm not sure if this what his herd mainly consists of. Apparently, there are roughly 30 milk cows being kept on his farm.







Young calves are separated from their mothers and kept in cages such this one.They are bottle fed until they reach a certain size to a breeder or kept as breeding stock at the farm. The goal is to get the Milk of course so the Milk used in the bottle feed is not Mother's milk but a milk replacement.
             

One year old breeding stock grazing Once the Animal is made pregnant, the cycle of milk production begins. Notice how clean the animals all are. Hygiene is of the utmost importance in Milk production. So is treatment for diseases. A typical herd of Milk cows may be medicated every 2 months. Any contaminated milk is not accepted by the collection centers and is disposed of. 









Equipment and Structures

 The Milking parlor. This is a simple structure with 2 lanes for milking and 2 milking stations. I;m not sure of how long it would take to milk 1 animal, but as it seems evident, it cannot be a very long duration.

This is the main cow pen. This farm uses steel piping instead of wooden beams for structural members. Its structurally stronger but more expensive. All of the joints are welded. The wooden equivalent would be screwed together and have their cross members placed on the inside of the pen. Notice the large fans for ventilation, this is an optional feature depending on the area in which the farm is located      

A closer look at the Milking Parlor. You see 2 lanes and 2 milking stations. To the right are cisterns for milk storage. A cow would naturally approach the station during the preset time it wants to discharge the milk in its udders as this quantity builds up naturally during the day. Once they are full the animal has the urge to empty it.  

Some of the equipment used during the milking process. In keeping with the standards of hygiene and food safety, all such equipment is washed and stowed to prevent contact with other liquids that will that will contaminate the milk. Contaminated milk is not accepted at a milk collection center and is discarded as waste.  

A typical setup for a milking station. 4 suction hoses for 4 teats. The hoses looked brand new and are probably replaced frequently to safeguard against the cumulative build up of bacteria originating from the milk itself. Also proper function of the equipment is essential as is regular cleaning and maintenance. Such maintenance would have to be scheduled and carried out in coordination with the collection of milk.




Overview.


Our visit coincided with the decision made by the farmer to sell of this particular business as the yield from cows milk did not meet His expectations. However looking at the setup the He has on site, I concluded that the farmer had made too much of an investment in infrastructure. No doubt he is capable of performing the exercise, but in my opinion  all farming is very raw economics and too much expenditure can cause a project such as this to be crippled by lack of funds to do the operations.

Also not evident in these photos is a key and vital part of the setup which is the feed necessary for the animals to produce milk. A setup such as this would need a crop of Napier grass that is harvested in rotation to enable a continuing supply of high protein feed. In fact upon my visit I did not see such a field, but heard that the Farmer had made several attempts to plant such feed for rotational cultivation. It is not known why this has not worked, but in my own experience, the weather has a very much significant impact on any agricultural venture, although such a problem could be alleviated by installing a piped water system similar to what is used in corn farming.

Any attempt to reverse this farms fortunes, unfortunately, would necessitate digging deeper into the farmers own pockets for money to make the changes.