MACHINE MILKING.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4896, 28 October 1925, Page 3

MACHINE MILKING.

PART PLAYED IN NEW ZEALAND. INCREASING THE-INDUSTRY. The first milking-machine trial was made in New Zealand about thirty years ago. Following that, several makes of machines were imported, but none was successful in milking cows clean enough, and, with the labour of milking the cows by hand after finishing with the milker, there was little advantage over tne old hand methods. In 1900 a Scottish machine was introduced, which, not entirely satisfactory, paved the> way for later improvements, and helped .to _break down the prejudice among dairymen who had insisted on adhering to the old methods. After various milkers had been introduced with some changes in type and number of -buckets, a- dairy farmer in the Taranaki district designed the releaser plant, which eliminated the use of buckets and conveyed the milk direct from-the cow to the receiving tank. This meant a great saving of labour, but it was not an unqualified success.- In comparison, with the bucket plants the releaser system had two drawbacks ; it did not milk the cows as clean nor was it .idealised so easily as the old system. These drawbacks have since been overcome, and now the entire system, pipes and all, can be .taken down and washed thoroughly. The releaser system so popularised the milking machine in New Zealand tha.t at the present time about twenty different makes are in use in some twelve ‘thousand plants, and supply about half the milk of the Dominion. The advent of the milking machine demanded a'special type of milking shed, and what is now known as the • "walkthrough" shed has been found the best suited to the needs of the average dairy farmer. The stalls are ■ ranged on both sides of the alley-way, and each stall is seven feet wide, divided into two equal sections .to accommodate two 1 cows-. The cow is held by a chain or rope round the hindqu'arters, and when she has been milked and stripped by hand a* door is opened at the head of her stall, and she is turned out iso that .another cow may take her place without delay. This shed permits the handling of a maximum number of cows with a minimum of time and labour. Each set of cups milks, on an average, ten cows an hour,-.that is .to say, a fourcow plant will milk ’forty cowjs an hour with two It is doubtful if the dairying industry would ever have-acquired its pre-sent-day magnitude and prestige in y New Zealand if milking machines had not come into use, and One of the chief leasons for its success may be accredited to the close supervsiibn of the dairy division of the Department of Agriculture in connection with the sanitary construction and cleansing of the machines. . The extent and increase in machine milking in New Zealand is shown by statistics of the number of milking plants as follows: 1919, 7577-plants; 1920’, 8806 plants ; 192.1, 10,450 plants; 1922, 12,465 plants.