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Milking machines should be tested at least once annually

The best laid plans in dairying, not to mention considerable financial investment, can unravel if your milking machine is prone to breakdowns.

F or that reason, it's essential to have milking machines serviced and tested by an IMQCS (Irish Milk Quality Co-operative Society) registered milking machine technician at least once per year.

With calving still over a month away for most dairy farmers, now is the ideal time to service your milking machine.

A list of registered milking machine technicians is available on www.milkquality.ie.

Milking machines should be tested at least once annually

Thorough servicing will ensure the machine will work well and generally without any breakdowns.

The milking machine should be tested at least once annually. After servicing your milking machine the technician must test the machine, write the results on a test report form, list any faults and recommendations and leave you a copy.

The technician must look over the results to see that all readings from the test are within limits.

Test results on the report should show that the vacuum gauge is accurate, the vacuum level is correct, the pulsation system is working properly, there is sufficient vacuum reserve and that there are no unnecessary or excessive air leaks.

The test report is proof that the machine is performing correctly after being serviced. It may be needed for quality assurance purposes also.

A good supply of spare parts will come in handy throughout the year.

Spare sets of liners, short pulse tubes, claw bowels and claw seal kits, vacuum pump oil, v-belts, etc, will be needed from time to time.

Having parts to hand will mean that anything that goes wrong can be sorted straight away as opposed to struggling along, for perhaps weeks without them.

Research indicates that liners should be changed after about 2,000 cow milkings. Worn liners are not able to milk out cows fully and milking speed will be slower.

They also increase teat end damage and the spread of mastitis bacteria.

Calculate the recommended liner change interval for your machine, e.g. a 10 unit plant milking 80 cows will milk 8 rows twice a day ie 16 milkings per liner per day therefore change the liners every 125 days (2000/16) or about twice a year in this case.

When liners are being changed cut a few liners lengthways for any signs of wear inside the barrel, especially if the change interval is longer than recommended.

Ensure that liners do not leak when fitted in the shell and that they cannot twist easily.

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The barrel of the liner is stretched between 5 and about 15pc of its original length when fitted in the shell.

With this stretching the barrel will lose its tension over time as can be seen when you place a new liner beside a worn one; the worn liner is always longer.

It is not a good idea to replace liners just before drying off as they are left under tension during the dry period.

Claw bowels and seal kits

Check claw seal kits and replace as necessary. Shut-off valves that don't seal properly at cluster take-off can cause clinical mastitis and raise cell counts.

It is also much more difficult to attach and detach a cluster that needs a new seal kit or has a cracked bowel.

Claw seal kit replacement is often neglected at servicing. I have seen gaskets that are not seated properly under bowels and ones that have swelled up because they are long overdue a change.

Chipped or cracked claw bowels should be replaced. I have found that some spurious bowels don't fit correctly so that they don't seal fully on their gaskets.

The claw air admission hole should be above the milk in the bowel during milking.

The admission hole can be in the bowel or in the claw piece.

There is a danger when using spurious or different versions of bowels that one could end up with none or even two claw air admission holes on a cluster.

While the milking machine technician will carry out the main servicing and test the milking machine there are checks that you should do yourself daily and from time to time. These include:

Tom Ryan is a retired Teagasc farm buildings and dairy infrastructure specialist

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