New York Aoeicultural Experiment Station. 67 



The number of cows milked each day ranged fix)m 12' to 18, 

 with a mathematical average of 16.7 for each of the 144 days. 

 The total time consumed in milking 2,400 cows was 7,197 minutes 

 or an average of a cow in 2.94 minutes. Since four cows were 

 being milked simultaneously this is really an allowance of 11.76 

 minutes per cow, including the time lost in emptying and trans- 

 ferring the machines. 



The average yield per cow at the afternoon milking was 7.38 

 pounds. 



Under the head, " Cleaning up at the barn," is included the 

 rinsing out of the teat cvips and machines, first with cold water, 

 then with a hot solution of sal-soda or other cleaning compound, 

 finally with hot water. This rinsing was accomplished by alter- 

 nately plunging in and withdrawing the teat cups from a pail of 

 the fluid so that air and fluid were alternately drawn through by 

 the milking mechanism. After this rinsing the motor and 

 vaccum pump were stopped and the teat cups and rubber tubes 

 were replaced in the brine solution. The average time consumed 

 by one man in thus cleaning two machines, including the time 

 taken to prepare the sal-soda solution, was 7.68 minutes. The 

 time required for rinsing one machine would have been more 

 than one-half as long since one pail of fluid served for both ma- 

 chines in each instance. 



In addition to the rinsing which the milking machines re- 

 ceived at the barn after each milking the teat cups and rubber 

 tubes were cleaned by hand once a week and the remaining parts 

 of the milkers were carefully washed each day. According to 

 the records kept by Thos. McGuiness, the average time consumed 

 on 29 days by one man in washing the four sets of teat cups 

 and rubber tubes was 18.3 minutes. The washing of the remain- 

 ing parts of the two milkers on 174 days required an average of 

 8.13 minutes per day. This does not include the time of steam- 

 ing the metal parts since they required no supervision after being 

 placed in the steam box. 



