Milking Process Analysis

On October 26, 2016, I milked the cows in the early shift at Foremost dairy. This was an excellent experience to see how cows are milked in person. While milking I have observed that the milking process is a constant routine and need to follow the proper steps in order to prevent mastitis. The milking process requires several important steps. The purpose of these steps is to minimize the risk of the cow coming in contact with mastitis organisms during and after milking, produce optimal milk let down, and have efficient milk removal. When first arriving at Foremost the first thing that I did was to put on boot covers and wash my hand and put on gloves. These steps are for biosecurity reasons that will help eliminate pathogens entering the farm. Foremost dairy does an excellent job in meeting all of the biosecurity protocols. After meeting all of the biosecurity protocols we went into the high raised mattress pens to milk the heifers first. Foremost follows a strict milking order in order to reduce the spread of mastitis. The order they follow is healthy cows, cows with questionable health, chronic mastitis, and cows with contagious pathogens. On the farm, they first milked the heifers in the high rise pens, and then the second highest producing in the low rise pens, then to the cows in the calan pen. After milking in the high raised and calan pens we moved to the maternity barn where we milked the fresh and sick cows. When …show more content…
The first step in milking is pre dip of iodine, this is a disinfectant that helps the spread of pathogens. The iodine needs to stay on the udder for at least 30 seconds. While waiting for the 30 seconds you can do the next step which is fore stripping. Fore stripping is vital for detecting early signs of mastitis. Fore stripping is essential because it removes bacteria from the teat canal and stimulates milk flow. After fore stripping, the next step is clean the