Milking with an H

[Bob Perry]

Curious if anybody remembers doing this...

When I was little, before we had a pipeline milking system, before we had a generator, we could milk the cows using the H.

If we lost electricity, we'd pull the Farmall H up to the front of the barn. There was a spigot on the intake manifold. Simply by attaching a hose from there to the vacuum line that ran the milkers, we could run 2 Surge milking machines. The H would just run at idle. The pulsators ran off vacuum, no electric pulse needed, and the cows would get milked. (Took twice as long, 2 machines instead of 4)

These are the milking machines we used:

[v w]

No. That is a new one for me. Dad had Surge milkers. I don't remember that there were many power outages nor a thing about what was done when it did happen. I may not have wanted to remember. I disliked milking cows but often was stuck with it. The cows would give milk faster if the sursingle (for those not familiar with a surge, a strap around cow holding the milker) was forward. After attaching the cups I would pull it up as far forward as I could get it. I do remember one old cow that had to have the pail emptied and the milker put back on or it would fill and milk would get sucked into the vacumn line. The pulsator would be a mess too. Those milkers held five gallons. And the cat(s) was always there testing your aim. Vern

[Gary Dotson]

Yes, Bob, I remember running the milkers off our H a couple times. Just like you, we had a valve & spigot in the intake manifold of our H, just for such occasions.

[XFARMA]

Hey Bob, boy does that bring back some memories,we also used Surge machines and had a petcock on the 200 and the BN. they didn't get used alot but every once in a while. Chuck

[Matt Kirsch]

We used to milk down cows with a setup like that, right up until Dad got rid of the milk cows here a few years back.

It was real handy when the loader tractor had a gas engine. You could lift the cow with the hip slings and the loader, then milk her using the same tractor.

Dad still uses the Surge milker occasionally when one of the heifers pops out a calf before he can sell her.

[Bob Perry]

You could lift the cow with the hip slings and the loader, then milk her using the same tractor.

Ah! memories !

[Matt Kirsch]

Yes, memories that reaffirm why I didn't take over the dairy operation when I graduated college. If there was any money in cash cropping or raising beefers, I'd be there right now.