Disadvantages Of Milking Parlors

In early America the dairy industry wasn’t much more than families milking their personal cows to provide milk to their families. Now we have huge commercial dairies that mass produce milk for billions of people. The industry has come a long way from the early days and improved enough so that clean safe milk free of pathogens, microorganisms and antibiotics can be bought in almost every grocery store in America. The dairy industry has grown immensely due to advancing technology. Despite the early dangers of drinking milk, I argue that technology has improved cleanliness and production of milk. Cows weren’t brought to America until the early 1600’s from Europe. During that time the cows were only brought so they could provide meat and dairy

Parallel milking parlors are designed so that the cows come into the barn and are standing with their rear facing the milkers. Once a cow enters the barn and goes into her chute a small gate will close to keep her in position, so the next cow can stand next to her. Advantages of this parlor is that it can hold cows on both sides of the run and usually holds up to twenty-four cows, twelve on each side of the run. Disadvantages of the design is that the front of the udder is not visible so putting on machines and sanitizing the udder can be difficult. The herringbone parlor is ideal for small dairies because it hold less cows than the other parlor designs. When the cattle come into the parlor they will be facing the milkers with their rears diagonally towards the milkers. The advantages of the design are that the milkers have a high visibility of the cow’s udder and this allows sanitation and putting on machines to go smoother. The disadvantages of this design are that the cows must exit single file which is slow and delays the next groups

First, the cow is milked (usually two times a day) and then the fresh milk is sent into a holding tank that rapidly cools down the milk. The milk is chilled at around thirty-nine degrees for no more than forty-eight hours. The holding tanks are always moving in one way or another to keep the raw milk from separating. Every twenty-four to forty-eight hours milk trucks will come pick up the milk. “The tankers that are used have special stainless-steel bodies which are heavily insulated to keep the milk cold during transportation to the processing factory” (Procon.org). The milk truck drivers are licensed to inspect the milk upon arrival before they put it in their milk trucks. They look for odd smelling milk, milk that is being kept too warm and any discolored milk. They also take a sample of the milk before pumping it into their tanks. If the milk is deemed unsafe they refuse to pick it up and the farmer must dump the milk and clean out their tank for the next pickup. Samples taken from the dairies will later be tested at the lab. Upon arrival to the processing factory the milk is tested for antibiotics, temperature, cell count and fat content. After the milk is tested and deemed safe it is pumped into a holding vat or silo at the processing plant. Depending on the grade of milk the plant is producing it will go through a