Vol. 9, Special Issue 1 (2024)

Author(s): Naveen Kumar P, Vivek M Patil, Mahadevappa D Gouri, Guruprasad R, Madhusudhan HS and Shivaraj BM

Abstract: The present study was carried out to compare the milking practices associated with two milking systems—hand milking system (HMS) and community machine milking system (CMS) in the jurisdiction of the Kolar-Chikkaballapura Milk Union Ltd. The milking practices of 72 randomly selected respondents from six villages of Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts were recorded. A significantly higher proportion of CMS respondents practiced milking in shed and used scientific milking pails as compared to HMS respondents. The common milking practices followed in both systems was using of wet utensils for milking and using ordinary water for washing the milking utensil prior to milking. All the respondents practiced washing hands, udder and teats prior to milking; and milking twice daily. During milking, a significantly higher proportion of CMS respondents practiced tying the tail, fore-stripping and stripping at the end of milking in CMS. In both milking systems, healthy animals were milked first and none of the respondents practiced any test for detection of mastitis. After the milking process was complete, significantly higher proportion of CMS respondents practiced cleaning the milking utensils with hot water and detergent. None practiced post-milking teat dips or wiped the udder and teats after milking. Though most of the respondents were not following scientific milking practices in both milking systems, the level of adoption was much higher in CMS as compared to HMS.