New York Agficultural Experiment Station. 37 



As previously suggested, one of the questions involved in test- 

 ing the efficiency of the milking machine was the effect of its con- 

 tinued use upon the yield of milk and the welfare of the animal, 

 especially in the maintenance of the udder in a normal condition. 

 The acquisition of accurate data on this point is difficult. It is 

 not possible to milk the same animal by hand and by the machine 

 throughout the same lactation period, and for this reason it was 

 necessary to determine the yield of milk between two methods with 

 a generous number of animals and through several lactation 

 periods. There was involved in this study not only the effect of 

 machine milking upon yield, but also the question of economy in 

 the use of the machine in the saving of the time of men. The fol- 

 lowing is a summary of the conclusions given in Bulletin jSTo. 353, 

 reprinted in this report: 



One of the limiting factors in the development of the dairy busi- 

 ness is the difficulty in obtaining regular and efficient milkers. In- 

 terest in the milking machine is largely due to the possibility of 

 displacing a considerable amount of low-grade labor by a single 

 higher grade, better paid man. 



This study of the effect of hand and machine methods of milk- 

 ing upon the flow of milk covered over four years. At each suc- 

 ceeding period of lactation the manner of milking was changed 

 so that each cow was alternately milked by machine and by hand 

 during succeeding periods. Satisfactory data were thus obtained 

 from 71 lactation periods. 



The normal variation in flow in a large group of cows is at least 

 1 per ct. The effect of the manner of milking, provided it is 

 thoroughly done, is less than this amount and thea-efore is not 

 measurable. 



In a dairy of 15 cows one man using two machines will milt 

 cows within an average time of 3 minutes but the time lost in pre- 

 paring and cleaning the machine will equal 1 minute per cow. 

 With larger dairies this latter item will be proportionately re- 

 duced. 



