Mi8lking machine-need help troubleshooting

[MaryF]

Hey there,
here is the run down, hoping someone might be able to help me here...
Someone gave us an older vaccuum pump and a milk bucket. We ordered the lid, pulsator, claw, ect setup.. Tried it last night....the pump is saying that it is mantaining at 13 inhg mercury (I hope that makes sense to you, cause I have no idea what it means, dh said to make note of it ). After milking, there was still about a gallon of milk left to hand express.
Is it possible that when its doing the inflations, its not squeezing the teats enough? We are so new to this...would this mean the pulsator isnt sqeezing firmly enough, at a long enough duration? Does the pump sound strong enough? The pump (though older) is rated for 4 milking units, and we are just doing one cow at at time. Is there a way to adjust the pulsator?
Just dont know where to go from here with it...
Also, can someone tell me how to clean the claws?
Mary F.

[JeffNY]

Call a delaval dealer in your area and ask them what the correct vaccuum pressure is, http://www.delaval.com. Now as far as cleaning the claw. Take hot water, in a bucket if thats what you have, preferably 180 degrees (kills bacteria). Turn the milker on, and suck the water and cleaning solution (you need cleaning solution too) through the claw and into the tank. The water flowing through the claw at the rate it does will wash it out. Then take clean water and do the same (gets rid of the solution). But it does sound like there isn't enough vaccuum, but like I said, call a delaval dealer and ask them what the correct pressure is. There should be a way to adjust it.



Jeff

[Highland]

13 inches of vacum is plenty-could be your cow just needs to get used to it.To wash your claw and inflations they need to be taken apart completly at least once a day and brushed .You can buy the proper brushes from any dairy supplyer.

[Ronney]

Hi Mary,
I check my vacuum gauge every milking but never bother to actually read it - so long as the needle is still at the same place I'm happy. So today I read it. It's reading 16in to mercury with both sets of cups on the cows and 17in to mercury with no cups on but everything closed off. All my cows go out milked and I don't have a mastitis problem indicating that both the vacuum and pulsation are set correctly.

Apart from the fact that your cows are a little upset about this new fangled thing you've thrust on them and are possibly holding back, I would also think that your vacuum is running a little under par. As Jeff suggests, get it checked out. Vacuum pumps run for years and not too much normally goes wrong with them so it could be that you have a leak somewhere or that the pump needs the diaphragms replaced, especially if it has been sitting for a while doing nothing.

As for cleaning your machine, first of all go and buy yourself some proper dairy detergent. Whatever you do, don't use household detergent as it soaps up too much and doesn't have the power to clean the machine. When finished milking run a 5 gal bucket of cold water per set of claws through it to rinse out the milk - I often give this water to my pigs. Fill a 5 gal bucket with hot water and add the appropriate amount of dairy detergent as per instructions and run that through it. I use this hot water to wash out any dirty milk or pig buckets - waste not, want not. Then leave your machine "open" i.e. pull out all the bungs. Next milking, flush the machine through with another bucket of cold water before commencing milking. That is your daily ascidic wash and usually has phosphoric and sulphuric acid in it - highly corrosive so take care not to get it on your skin and don't sit the container on the concrete as it eats it! but it's what breaks down the milk fats in the milk lines. Once a week an alkaline wash should be put through the machine as well because there will be still a build-up of milkstone which will eventually give the milk a funny taste. Two or three times a season I pull the whole machine apart and put brushes through it along with the alkaline wash and once a year I replace all rubber ware.

Cheers,
Ronnie

[willow_girl]

What is your cow's udder like? Does she have large teats? My Twister does, and she never milked out very well on a machine, which caused her to get mastitis when she was at the dairy. (On the plus side, she is very easy to milk by hand!).

If the remaining milk was all in one quarter, it could be that the tip of the teat was folded under a bit inside the inflation. Sometimes this will block off the flow.

Make sure you stimulate the cow's udder well (cleaning her off and stripping out a bit of the milk) and then wait about 30-45 seconds before putting the machine on. This will help her to let down her milk.

If she's used to having a calf on her, you can gently push up on her udder with the back of your hand (the way a calf would with its nose) to help trigger letdown if she is resistant (I do this with heifers fairly often). As a last resort, a shot of Oxytocin will work, but cows can become addicted to it and refuse to let down their milk without the shot.

Massaging the udder during milking, and pulling down on the inflation if there is one or more quarters that still have milk after the others have been milked out, also may work.

And HEY! At least your cow doesn't try to lay down atop the milking bucket, like my Christine does!