Sep 10, 2005 2:57 pm US/Central
CBS 2 At Brookfield Zoo: Milking A Cow
(CBS)
We went inside the dairy farm at Brookfield Zoo to find out more about cow milking.
Zoo worker Frank brought out the zoo's beautiful three-year-old Holstein cow named Crissey and she went up into the milking chamber. To make sure that Crissey is comfortable and occupied, the zoo puts a lot of nice, yummy grain in there for her to eat. Now, this is where things get interesting.
Frank and Susan clean something known as the udders. If you take a look toward the back of Crissey, you'll see a big round thing that look like a bag. That's called an udder. That's where the dairy cows will produce their milk.
Now it is ready to get that excess milk from the last time. There is a very important process to squeezing the milk out: you have to treat the teat like a water balloon. You have to use your thumb and forefinger to trap the milk in the teat and use your other fingers to squeeze that milk out.
Frank and Susan now switch to using the milking machine. The rounded metal things are called inflaters. And inside the inflater it is soft rubber, so that way when the teat goes in it is very comfortable for Crissey.
Milk pumped down through the tube can now be seen. The milk will be pumped through the tube and the milk will be collected. We will keep doing this until the udder is empty.
Our hard work is over, but it seems like Crissey had the tougher job. We ask Frank if it is that uncomfortable for her.
"No, not at all," he said. "She actually ends up eating her grain which is a treat and that relieves a lot of pressure. After she is milked she is very comfortable."
You can check out the milking at Brookfield Zoo weekdays at 11:00 and 1:00.
(© MMV, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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