858 Popular Editions of Station Bulletins of the 



In Station work it has been necessary to 

 Time-saving weigh, and record each cow's milk separately ; 

 by machines. so that it has been inadvisable for one man to 

 handle more than two machines, each milk- 

 ing two cows; and the operations have undoubtedly been done a 

 little more carefully and a little slower than would be necessary 

 in a commercial dairy. The data given for labor are, therefore, 

 very consei'vative. They are based on accurate records of the 

 time consumed by each step of the afternoon milking on 144 days 

 in 1911 ; and on records of the time required each day for a month 

 in washing and otherwise completing the cleaning of the machines, 

 this last work being done in the dairy building, not at the bam. 



Based on the use by on© man of two machines in milking 15 

 cows, the time consumed each day would be as follows : 



Preparing machines night and morning 6.72 minutes 



Milking 30 cows (15 night and morning) .... 88.20 minutes 



Rinsing machines at barn night and morning. 15.36 minutes 



Cleaning teat-cups and tubes (done weekly). 2.61 minutes 



Washing remaining parts of machines 8.13 minutes 



Total time required to milk 30 cows. . . . 121.02 minutes 

 Average time required to milk one cow. 4.034 minutes 



Under commercial conditions this time could be decidedly les^ 

 sened; and the advantage would increase as the number of cows 

 milked increased. Fifteen is probably as small a number as will 

 be found profitable in connection with present machine milking; 

 since with this number of cows approximately one-third of the 

 time is spent in operations other than the actual milking. As 

 the number of cows increased this extra consumption of time 

 would become relatively less and the average time required for 

 each cow would decrease. It is possible, also, where detailed 

 records are not kept, that one man could handle more than two 

 machines and thereby reduce the labor cost. 



As iStation figures show that it takes seven 

 Economy. minutes for a hand milker to milk a cow, 



record the weight and pour the milk on the 

 cooler, it is evident that the machines do economize labor. As te 



