Milking

Hand milking

Kvens milking reindeer in the 19th century

Milking is the act of removing milk from the mammary glands of an animal, typically cows (cattle), water buffalo, goats, sheep and more rarely camels, horses and donkeys. Milking may be done by hand or by machine.

Hand milking

Hand milking is performed by massaging and pulling down on the teats of the udder, squirting the milk into a bucket. Two main methods are used:

• The top of the teat is pinched shut between finger and thumb, trapping milk in the lower part, which is then squeezed by the other fingers, squirting the milk out through the hole in the tip of the teat.
• The top of the teat is pinched shut by the fingers and thumb, which are then slid down the teat, pushing the milk towards the tip.

Rectum milking

Rectal milking is performed during a human cadaver dissection to remove feces from the cecum so feces does not spill into the rectum upon bisection of the pelvis. It is done by tying off the cecum and squeezing its contents up into the large intestines.

Machine milking

Small-scale machine milking

Most milking in the developed world is done using milking machines. The teat cups are attached to the cow's teats, then the cups alternate between vacuum and normal air pressure to extract the milk. The milk is filtered and cooled before being added to a large bulk tank of milk for storage.

Today there exists fully automatic milking machines, where the for e.g. cow moves in when want, it resulted in bigger milk productions.

Milking venom

Milking is also used by extension to describe the removal of venom from snakes and spiders, for the production of antivenom.

Human milking

Milking of human breasts can be done (among other reasons) as part of a fetish act or kink, for recreation, or for those expecting children, in order to prepare their mammary glands for their child.

See also

• Automatic milking
• Breast pump
• Bulk tank
• Dairy
• Dairy cattle
• Dairy farming
• Milk
• Milking pipeline
• Milking the system

External links

• Template:En icon MilkAcademy (for more applicable information about milking equipments and dairy farming)