Milk by hand or milk by machine, dairy cows need their dairymaid or dairyman’s attention twice a day. Regardless of wanting to stay longer visiting on Sunday, stop off after work in town, or even feel under the weather or down right sick, dairying requires stamina and diligence.
My uncle Dean owned a small dairy (with a herd of about 30 cows) in Coquille OR for all his working life and heeded that call of the cows morning and night for nearly 50 years. I have pleasant memories of my family visiting my uncle and aunt. Uncle Dean would invite me to get up early to go milk the cows with him. Riding along in his old pickup truck, we arrived at his barn, which was raised about 10 feet off the pasture level to provide high ground for the cows when the Coquille River would flood. The barn like most others I’ve been in was somewhat subdued in light, but the smell of cows, feed, hay, milk and well uh-hum manure were mixed in your nose and clings there today when I think about it. I remember following my uncle with a bucket of warm soapy water, he would wash each cows udder, then came the sucking sound as he applied the suction cups to each teat. Then I’d sit on hay bales, pet the barn cats and chat with my uncle or listen to the soft surging, swishing sounds of the milk being gathered in the milking machine bellies. At home, we had a milk cow, but dad always milked her by hand. Though our barn only held three or four cows and a horse or two, it was warm, dark and had all those familiar sights and smells.
I looked online this morning and it appears you can still buy this surge milker machine, new today it’s costs, $1,695.00. These machines now days are intended for use by a family with a cow or two. But in my uncle’s day and in the 50s and 60s when this dairy was a working farm, these machines were used commercially by smaller operations. This surge milker belly was sitting quietly, unused and gathering dust inside the milk room at an old abandoned dairy barn just outside Colfax WA.
Thanks for joining me today, for the view that is right here! ~ Madge
Sharing with ‘Rural Thursday Blog Hop #12,’ and ‘Homestead Barn Hop #57.’
i’ve milked with these – a long time ago. i thought the milk pipelines were the coolest invention ever after having to tote these and empty them into the collection tank.
Very nice write-up today Madge! That lovely warm smell of a barn, once enjoyed, never ever leaves the memory, does it.
nice post/photo! my dad used to always tell me that too…i guess i used to always say i wanted a milk cow lol…not sure why he always told me that!
Oh cool! I guess I’d have no clue how to use something like that.
this is a first for me, all i ever saw was hands and a bucket. and the teen son used to squirt me with milk, like a hose. my friends brother.
Neat post, Madge. Funny the things that sticks with us as memories. I had a good friend growing up and her family milked cows. I got in on a milking or two when we had overnight stays.
Cool picture of the old milker and what a lovely, lovely post! :)
That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing your memories of a simple time in this rush rush world :)
Our senses most assuredly take us back to those times that hold special memories.
A nice post at looking back!
At first I thought the photo was of an old canner. :)
Love the old bottles.
I’ve never seen or used one of these, but that’s a great piece of history. An expensive piece now it sounds like.
I always enjoy seeing old farm equipment and learning about what they were used for. Great find Madge. Thanks for linking up with RT this week! :)
Great memories…interesting how one object can trigger the brain and all of the senses…