MILKING MACHINES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1722, 12 April 1913, Page 10

MILKING MACHINES.

HINTS BY A FACTORY MANAGER. A dairy factory manager (Mr. J. M'llraith), of tho Tweed River Co-operativo Butter Cemp-iny, N.S.W., who considers tho milking machine preferable to hand milking if the machine is properly treated, gives tho following hints as to tho caro of tlio machines:— 'In Hie first placo (says Mr M'Hraith) an ;>gent sells a machine' to a dairy famier, ami in order to reduce the cost as much as possible, ho specifies a' small loom in which thero is scarcely room to turn. In this ho puts down tlio engine, vacuum pump, separator, and milk vat, in tome casesywith tho milk rat almost touching tho engine. This i 3 a great mis-., take, and tho ono which is tho cause of a very' great deal of the trouble. It certainly saves a littio 6imc3, a iittlo belting, and perhaps a. few pounds at first, but.tho effect of such arrangement is soon felt i in tho cream from such'plant. Tlio fumes from tho engiue's exhaust, and the odour from heated lubricating oils, coming in contact with tho milk in tlio vat, is quickly, absorbed, with tho result that tho cream is tainted, and tho longer it is kept the worse it becomes. • To overcome this the engine and pump should never bo placed in tho eamo room, with milk vat and separator, but tho .building should bb'largo enough to allow of an. airtight partition being placed between the engine-room and the separating room, and an overhead shaft fixed to drivo tho separator. The exhaust from the engine should be canicd well above the roof, ajid straight up instead of .horizontally. By doing this tho fumes from tho exhaust and other odours will bo prevented from coming in direct contact "with tlio milk, thereby minimising tho danger from that source. It is a fact that where steam is used as 'She.motive power, the taint referred to aWo is hcvct experienced, and another great advantage in the use of steam is that there is always plenty of hot water for cleansing purposes, which, after ail, is of tho greatest importance, and it frequently happens where wn.ter has to be boiled on. a fire outside it is too cold before using to be of much) aso as a sterilising agent. Before rubber tubes and inflations are first used, they should be boiled at least twice for ten minutes each time, end afterwards at least twice a week for a similar length of time. When milking "is finished a quantity of clean cold water should bo drawn through tho tubes to wash out the milk, ajid then boiling water with washing soda, should be drawn through to thoroughly cleanse and sterilise .them. They should then, be kept in a bath of lime water till again required, When they should havo a quantity of cold water drawn through them before they are put on the cows. If this is done no taint of rubber will l>e found in the cream. Another important thing to watch is that no milk is allowed to get into tho vacuum pipes, as it does at times through tho over-filling of buckets or from broken inflations. If ithis should happen, no time should he lost before washing out the whole system, opening up the vacuum tank and leaving it ope® till next required.