Gallery: Toolkit: What You Need to Run a Milking Operation
01dairy-cows-are-like-high-performance-athletes
Dairy cows are like high-performance athletes—nursing high-performance athletes. At least that's how Aurora Villarroel sees them. She's an expert in both veterinary medicine and epidemiology at Oregon State University's experimental dairy research center, which uses all the latest tools to keep livestock healthy and pumping out primo milk. The tilt table (above), for example, is used to safely examine and trim hooves. Here are some of the mechanisms researchers use to monitor the cows and meet their every need. *Photo: Chris Mueller*
02s-a-e-afikim-afiact-pedometer-plus
__S.A.E. Afikim AfiAct Pedometer Plus__ Every step the cows take is monitored by these anklets. Sensors alerts farmers if animals are uncomfortable or stressed out—or even if they're in heat. It also acts as an electronic ID tag that can note when they've been milked. *Photo: Chris Mueller*
03kahne-rumen-sensors
__Kahne Rumen Sensors__ These 6.7-inch electronic capsules are inserted into the pouchlike part of the cow's digestive tract where grass and grain get fermented. The capsule holds temperature, pH, and gas pressure sensors that help researchers optimize Bessie's diet ... and track production of greenhouse gas. *Photo: Chris Mueller*
04milking-cluster
__Milking Cluster__ Cows actually want to be milked—it's a relief for them. (Some setups are even self-serve: The cows just walk right in.) This set of cups slides over their teats and pulsates, gently extracting milk before sending it through a tube to a set of meters and chemical analyzers. *Photo: Chris Mueller*
05dr-naylor-dehorning
__Dr. Naylor Dehorning Paste__ Applied to the noggins of newborn calves, this paste will keep them from growing horns, limiting the animals' ability to gore each other (or their human caregivers). But don't use too much—an oversize dollop of paste can give the critters an unsightly bald spot. *Photo: Chris Mueller*
06s-a-e-afikim-afimilk-analyzers
__S.A.E. Afikim/ Afimilk Analyzers__ In addition to checking the fat, lactose, and protein content with an infrared spectrometer, these instruments also look for traces of blood, count white blood cells, and report signs of metabolic disorders. All of this happens while the cow is being milked. *Photo: Chris Mueller*
07delaval-c125-cleaning-unit
__DeLaval C125 Cleaning Unit__ Hygiene is vitally important on a dairy farm. If an infection spreads from one animal to the rest of the milk, the costs can be enormous. This system controls the flow of detergent and water through a byzantine network of tubes that disinfect the milking equipment. *Photo: Chris Mueller*
