Hand-milking
On many farms all around the world, milking is still done by hand in the
same way as it has been done for thousands of years. Cows are usually
milked by the same people every day, and are quickly stimulated to letdown
just by hearing the familiar sounds of the preparations for milking.
Milking begins when the cow responds with the let-down reflex. The first
jets of milk from the teats are normally rejected. A careful, visual inspection
of the first milk enables the milker to detect the status of the udder health.
Two opposed quarters are milked at a time: one hand presses the milk
out of the teat cistern, after which the pressure is relaxed to allow more milk
to run down into the teat cistern from the udder cistern. At the same time
milk is pressed out of the other teat. In this way the two teats are milked
alternately. When two quarters have been emptied in this way, the milker
then proceeds to milk the other two until the whole udder is empty.
The milk is collected in pails and poured through a strainer, to remove
coarse impurities, into a churn holding 30 – 50 litres. The churns are then
chilled and stored at low temperature to await transport to the dairy.
Immersion or spray chillers are commonly used for cooling.