New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 91 



ing the milking machines it is probably not profitable to use 

 macJiines in dairies of less than 15 cows. In such a dairy one 

 man using two machines will milk cows within an average time 

 of 3 minutes but the time lost in preparing and cleaning the ma- 

 chine will equal 1 minute per cow. With a larger dairy this 

 latter item will be much reduced. 



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 

 that it is thoroughly done, is less than this amount and therefore 

 is not measurable. 



During the earlier years difficulty was experienced in milking 

 some of the cows. This difficulty arose from the failure of the 

 teat cups to fit properly. When this was overcome the cows 

 milked well. One small-teated and one very hard-milking cow, 

 neither of which was suitable for hand milking, did well with the 

 machine. 



The success of the milking machine, like any other machine, 

 is closely associated with the personality of the operator. Dur- 

 ing this experiment the machines have been operated by six dif- 

 ferent men, all of whom have done a.t least fairly well. 



In this study the attempt has been made to contrast the ma- 

 chine and hand methods of milking at their best. Unquestionably 

 it takes a higher grade man to operate a milking machine success- 

 fully than to hand-milk a cow equally well. There is every 

 reason to think that in the hands of careless operators the ma- 

 chines will work injury to the cows but the same result is too 

 often obtained from inefficient hand milkiuG;. 



The milking machine is becoming a recognized part of the 

 equipment of large dairies. It has already reached the point 

 where it compares favorably with ordinary hand milking in the 

 items of germ content of the milk and in its effect upon the flow. 

 There is still room for much improvement from the mechanical 

 standpoint, especially in the matter of simplicity and expense of 

 installation. 



