The Opunake Times. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1894. MILKING MACHINES.

Opunake Times, Volume I, Issue 33, 23 October 1894, Page 2

The Opunake Times. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1894. MILKING MACHINES.

r J I EiALs of the milking machine were made at several places in the district recently, and various opinions expressed as to the probable success of them. After the trial at Mr D. Wilkie’s, Otakeho, we published an opinion given by Mr Breach, who has probably had the largest experience of dairying of any man on the coast. His opinion, formed from watching the machine at work, was that it would take the flow of milk from a. cow in first-class style, and very rapidly, but that it would prove a very slow stripper. He was of opinion that it was necessary for the milker to obtain the spmpathy of the cow, if such an expression is applicable, in order to get the cow to let down all her milk. The action of the human hand on the teat is the nearest approach attained to that of the calf in sucking, and under the hand process it is also necessary to establish a certain amount of affection between the cow and the milker, so (hat the cow will come to regard the milker as her foster calf. This may not be very complimentary to the milker, but such a relationship requires to be established in order to produce the best results. It is a well-known fact that a good-tempered milker, who handles a cow from the time she is first broken in, will get better results than a change of milkers ever produced. Had Mr Breach been satisfied, he intended to at once procure machines and start milking 300 cows, but after witnessing the machine at work he decided to

await further tests. The -.question of stripping is a very important one, as this portion of the- milk contains such an abnormally large proportion of butter fat, compared with the balance of the milk, that any failure to extract it would mean the loss of a great part' of the profit of a cow. Mr Jephson, of Hawfirk, was reported to have the machine in use, and,to. have found it successful, but the following letter addressed by him to the Hawera Star for the information of dairymen, shows that hia anticipations, have not been realised, and that the milking machine has s>me further stages to go through yet before it is likely to be adopted generally:— “Sir, —ln last night’s (Thursday) issue you ask for information re the Brooksido milker. You sav I pronounced it a success. I admit I was satisfied with it at first, but it was only because the flow of milk was increasing daily, due to feeding green Cape barley. I find since that it is not as good as it looks to be, and am still trying to overcome the defects in it, but I am very doubtful of success. My idea is that successful milking depends upon a manipulation which is ‘ pleasing ’to the cow. It is not sufficient,to say that the operation must not hurt; it must be pleasant, to create sympathy. It must cause a reflex action, the milk being secreted during the operation, and the extent of this secretion is governed by the feelings of the cow. No machine in the world can influence the emotional nature to the same extent as can an intelligent handling by a sympathetic living being. Emotions are not controlled by the laws of mechanics. Friendship, love, and sympathy are not mechanical productions. A cow milked by machinery does not receive that sympathetic stimulus necessary to the nerves that is necessary to the best results. This so far has' always been a bar against all machine work, and so far as I know always will be. But the dairymen need not be unhappy about this fact; if milking were merely a mechanical operation, machines would be as plentiful as sausage grinders. Dairying would be revolutionised. Those now in the business would have to take a back seat or move with the times. As it is, dairying can never be carried on by the large landholders on a large scale, because the hand work kills it, so far as being a paying business. —I am, &c, Cyril Jephson.”