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Show M MILKING MACHINES. flic milking machine is being test-by test-by the various stations for the h purpose of determining its practica- Hl bility on the farm. The Montana stn- H' tidn has been making a special test, H andi has recently issued a preliminary H report covering the following points: H TJltat the milking machine is not H )ractical on a small dairy farm with H ten or twelve cows, unless the farmer H considers that the labor saved offsets H the cost of a small equipment, but for H dairies of twenty-five to fifty or a Hj hundred cows the milking machine is H a very great saver of time and labor. H It is generally, conceded but not H universally, that the milking machine H will milk cows as thoroughly as the Hl average milker and that the great Hi gain is in the amount of time saved H and the fewer number of men rc- ; quired for large dairies. bbW ; The cows take kindly to the milk- H ing machine and would just as soon H be milked by the machine as by hand. H The cost of installing a milking H machine for a dairy of from twenty- H five to fifty cows will- be from $400 H to $500. H1 With young cows and heifers there H seems to be no tendency on the part H of the milking machine to dry up the H cow, but some think that older cows H go,ilr- little sooner than would be H the casw with hand milking. As to H the cleanliness of the milk, oma- M claim that milk is much freer from H genms, while others disagree. The H station thinks that the cleanliness of H the milk dapends largely upon the H cleanliness of the' operator. The milt ing machines arc hard to clean unless a man is scrupulously -clean himself. The scrupulously clean man has no trouble in keeping the machine clcant There is nothing about' the machine that will cause it to get seriously ou of order. The majority use gasoline engines for power. The two-horsepower size is sufficient to fun a machine ma-chine for fifty cows, and! the cost is from one-fourth to one-half a cent" pcr cow per milking. Vicious kickers sometimes kick off the tubes, but what is the use of the vicious kicker in the dairy anyhow? There arc two styles of milking machines, one which goes, by suction and another that presses the milk out of the teat. The Station believes that the suction machine ma-chine gives better satisfaction, but declines to say it is absplutely. the best. In fact, it regards both types, to some extent, in the experimental stage. |