A milk strainer was basically a large funnel with a cloth stretched over the three inch opening. This was placed over the bucket and the milk poured through it. We had a few cats around the barn that depended on the milk lot for a food supplement to their mouse and rat diet. They had their pan for normal feeding, but I enjoyed squirting a stream to them and watching them jump and drink it in the air. Some cats would jump two feet for a sip of fresh milk.
Milk cows are generally gentle creatures, but they are slow to learn.
Once they have learned, they are just as slow to forget. One time we moved the lot gate to another corner, and it took days for the cows to learn where to get in and out of the lot. This lot had only one wire, which was connected to the shocking machine. The average cow would touch the wire five or six times before learning to stay away from it. After breaking they could be placed in a field with one wire around it, and even if the fence were not charged, they would not touch it.