An investigation of certain processes and conditions on farms / by W.R. Dunlop.

  • Dunlop, W. R. (Walter Ronald), 1887-
Date:
1927
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: An investigation of certain processes and conditions on farms / by W.R. Dunlop. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    69/76 (page 67)
    As regards (a), each man (or woman) uses buckets of water. Fetching these for each cow takes up a fair proportion of the time spent in brushing and washing down. A hose should be employed. This would also make the work easier. As to (b\ the present practice at Wye is to use a metal drum with a pump and hose attachment. One man does the pumping and the other does the spraying. The man who pumps has also to drag the machine from place to place, since the hose is too short to reach more than four cows at a time. The drum might be placed on wheels or the hose lengthened. But the best arrange¬ ment would be to have a tank erected above the level of the cows and the spraying material conveyed in metal pipes right round the cowshed above the cow’s backs. The spraying could then be done by gravity, and by means of a single lever the milker could put the whole system in operation. More important still, he could spray periodically during the afternoon (taking care, of course, to protect any exposed milk). This point is emphasised because it is believed that spraying is one of the most effective ways of dispersing flies. As has been already pointed out, flies are a serious source of annoyance during summer afternoons both to milkers and to cows, and certainly constitute a factor influencing adversely both the rate of milking and the yield of milk, day by day. Concerning (c)—the proximity and division of meadows—unnecessary time is spent through certain meadows being too far distant from the cowsheds. It is realised, of course, that soil and other natural conditions frequently determine the location of a meadow ; but instances are to be observed where suitable land could be laid down nearer to the cowshed where the animals are milked. It sometimes occurs that certain cows are milked three times a day. These have to be got out of the general herd at mid-day and quite a considerable waste of time may occur on such occasions, two men often being necessary before the requisite cows can be driven off from the rest. Such cows might be segregated in a special enclosure, at any rate during the day.