THE MILKING MACHINE.

Waipa Post, Volume IV, Issue 162, 12 November 1912, Page 4

THE MILKING MACHINE.

MUST BE KEPT CLEAN. “I will never go back to handmi Iking—in fact, I would rather go out of the trade altogether.” Such was the remark of a dairy farmer at the Palmerston Shpw, when discussing the merits and demerits of the milking machine. The dairyman in question stated that he had had some fifteen yeai's’ experience of hand milkmilking, but for the past three years he had been using the machines. Leaving out of account altogether the saving of labour, he considered the machine better than hand milking. Occasionally he found a cow that would not submit to the machine often a good cow, but he had no hesitation In passing her on to a hand milking friend or even rival. The very best results with the machine were obtained when heifers were brought up to it from the start. One point, however, which could not be overlooked with the machine was the need for absolute cleanliness, and this, according to the, farmer in question, would not lose any -farmer any sleep if he chose the right machine.

Apropos of the need for cleanliness in milking machines, some recent remarks of "Mr J. R. Scott, secretary of tee South Island Dairy Association, are of interest. Mr Scott, speaking at a dairy gathering in the south last week, said-he did not want to run down the milking machine, but unless it was kept absolutely clean it provided one of the greatest dangers the dairy industry had to-day. The machine could, he added, be kept clean, bnt in his experience they were not in 80 cases out of $ 100.