DRY OR WET MILKING

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLII, Issue 20503, 22 August 1936, Page 15

DRY OR WET MILKING

THE ALL-IMPORTANT POINT Through the temptation to “wet” milking—that is to say, the continuous moistening of the teats of the cow and the figures of the milk hand with milk —is strong, the shed rule should be upheld that it is a dirty and objectionable practice. Milkers satisfied as to this need not jump to the other extreme, however, and proclaim that dry milking is the ideal, says an Australian paper. Dry milking, carelessly undertaken, may be as objectionable as regards discomfort to both cows and milker, as well as uncleanly as is the opposing method, for the reason that by its practice fragments of dry and scurfy skin from the teats and udder continuously fall into the milk bucket, the unhealthy consequence of which is only too evident when the milk is removed for straining. The all-import-ant point, of course, is that the cow’s teats and udder should be thoroughly washed before each milking is undertaken, the process leaving them With just the right degree of clean moistness to facilitate milking operations. There is the added consideration that cows milked on the “wet” system are invariably the ones prone to suffer from cracked and sore teats on being turned out afterwards, whereas “dry” milking, with a light wipe over on completion, obviates this risk. Where, in the milker’s judgment, preliminary washing does not render the teats suf-

ficiently pliable and supple to induce steady milk flow, a plan found advantageous in many milk sheds is to coat the fingers with a well-worked-in coating of vaseline in quantity just sufficient for working purposes, and to add to the vaseline, for helpful teat conditioning and healing, a percentage, say up to 3 per cent., of boracic in powder or ointment form. It is well established that a purer sample of milk results from the “dry” milking practice.