Hand milking relaxes cows with soothing experience for the cow.

Milking cows with hands in SEVAI Farm

SEVAI Cow project farmer milks a milk yielding cow twice a day, 365 days a year. If the farmer were to skip a milking, the cow's udder would be sore and swollen from being full of milk. The hands of a milking person is kept clean as he is involved of milking cows can become contaminated with mastitis-causing pathogens, either from handling dirty equipment or from contact with contaminated milk from infected cows. Some microorganisms prefer living and growing on skin, whether it is the cow’s teat skin of the milker’s hands. Today, SEVAI Cow project farmer milking operations will have the cow milking farmers clean their hands well. These are replaced periodically through the milking process. The teats are prepared by the cow milk farmer thoroughly cleaning the teat and teat-ends and provide some sanitation to the teat skin. This wets the teat, provides sufficient moisture to wipe off the teat and get it clean, and sanitizes the teat skin. It is important to avoid getting the udder wet. Long udder hair is not desirable and it is usual for many dairy producers

Cow expecting gesture for Milk farmer to milk

to remove the hair from the udder.  A cow is ready to be milked when her udder is full. The farmer has some flexibility when making a schedule of cow milking times. Usually, cows are milked in the early morning and again in the late afternoon. It is possible to milk a cow by hand. The age-old practice of milking cow is by hand. Cows have been successfully milked by hand for years. Milking a cow by hand is not as easy as it may first appear, so it’s best to know what you are getting into before you take on this important farming task.  The cow milk farmer in Sirugamani SEVAI Cow farm keeps cows and their udder clean and he does not want manure or bedding falling into the milk bucket. Everything he uses, the bucket, utensils and vessels that will come into contact with the milk, as milk must be squeaky clean. SEVAI Cow project contend that hand milking is more gentle on the cow than machine milking. At the end of the day, hand milking is a personal choice for every farmer, cows are relaxed and it can be a very rhythmic and soothing experience for the cow.-Govin