Agricultural Research in New Hampshire 29 



tions had not been completed previously. Three more sires were proven 

 on the bases of this additional data. 



H. C. Moore, H. A. Keener, A. E. Teeri 



Efficient Chore Practices in Dairy Barns 



The detail milking records taken on New Hampshire farms during 

 the last two years were carefully studied and analyzed. The better meth- 

 ods and practices of each phase of the task were noted and these several 

 parts of the job were fitted together and then time patterns for the total 

 task of milking were projected. This required the development of def- 

 inite assumptions as to what tasks were essential, how much time would 

 be required for each, and the sequence timing of each one. 



In making these assumptions and in allocating time for the separate 

 tasks, the results were regarded as preliminary because there are uncer- 

 tainties as to what is essential in good milking. The wide differences be- 

 tween farms in the time required to milk cows under the rapid milking 

 procedure can be accounted for in large part in the general approach and 

 the sequence and timing of the practices, and so in the analysis these 

 phases of the problem were emphasized. 



It was assumed that cows could be milked out on the average in 3.5 

 minutes machine time. This was based on an analysis of the detailed rec- 

 ords taken on selected farms where milking was efficient. The distribu- 

 tion of 693 cows in 31 herds time required to machine milk is indicated 

 below according to minutes required for machine milking: 



693 100.0 100.0 3.36 



(If cows requiring 5 minutes are eliminated) 

 664 95.7 92.5 3.25 



Most of the cows in these herds were hand stripped and some allow- 

 ance was made in the assumption of 3.5 minutes per cow for machine 

 stripping. Many dairymen would have to do some selection of cows on 

 the basis of ease of milking in order to attain the goal of 3.5 minutes. 

 Other assumptions were (1) .3 man minutes to change the milker from 

 one cow to another including the disposal of the milk; (2) .3 man min- 

 utes to prepare the cows; (3) .5 man minutes to machine strip each cow; 

 (4) one minute to carry the milk from each two cows to the milk room. 



