Pre-milking routines

No one pre-milking routine will suit every dairy. In-stead, producers must develop a pre-milking routine that best fits their particular situation.

But, you must adhere to some basic scientific principles. According to the April 2002 issue of "Dairy Lines," a pre-milking routine should:

• Minimize water use.
  
• Focus on teat surfaces.
  
• Use a pre-dip.
  
• Assure complete pre-dip coverage of teat surfaces.
  
• Allow 30 seconds of pre-dip contact time.
  
• Provide a minimum let-down stimulus of 10 seconds. Teat massage, fore-stripping and teat drying all work to serve this purpose.
  
• Provide a lag time of 45 to 90 seconds between prep and unit attachment.
  
• Remove all dirt from teat surfaces.
  
• Minimize variation between milkers in applying these techiniques.

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