With it being only the second week, many students had little to no experience milking cows. But, that didn’t seem to stop any of our students! During my observation period, our three students managed to have a milking efficiency of 6.33 cows/milker/hour! Together, these three students were able to milk the 19 cows that day in about an hour.
We are now on our way to week 6 of the semester. I bet if I was to observe a group of students again, they would be able to achieve an even lower milking efficiency. We have learned a few tips and tricks along the way to help us be the most efficient milkers we can be. We have learned that communication in the dairy barn is crucial. If we can communicate who has been prepped and when, we can get that machine on and have milk on the way to our tank in no time. With time, we have gotten to know the cows better, so we know who milks out fast or who might be a little bit of a handful. In addition, we just have gotten more practice, and they say that practice makes perfect. I think that by the end of the semester, with plenty of practice, we will be able to be even more efficient in our milking times.
Julia Cleary Second Year AVS Student at UMaine