The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1916-12-22
first AIDS FOR HIRED
HELP ON DAIRY farm
MILKING MACHINES ARE THE
BOON, SAYS AN EXPERT
County Agent For NicoIIet, Stewart
Leaning, Has Been Making An In
vestigation of the New Devices and
What They Can Accomplish; Cows
Enjoy the Modern Apparatus
From Saturdays Ga-y.
STEWART LEANING.

From Saturdays Cay.
STEWART LEANING.
The pre- eminent livestock industry
of Nicollet county is dairying. In
1910 the value of the dairy products
sold from the farms exceeded $780,
600 and at the present time the an
nual income from this source prob
ably exceeds 100000 With an in
creasing reputation as to the quality
OF butter produced in the state it is
safe to venture that there will be a
continued development for years to
come. The great drawback to dairy
ing is the time repaired for milking
and many Of our farmers are not
keeping more than one-half the num-
Der of cows that their farms will
support because of the difficulty OF
securing help to do this work.
In the past few years a number of
mechanical mixers have come out
to solve this problem. How success
full these have been is matter OF
interest to every farmer of the coun-
ty, so that an investigation as to
the results secured by the men who
are using them has just been COM
pleted.
Cows Like Machines Work.
Herman Hopp, living on 150-acre
farm on the edge of Nicollet, bought
his milking machine two years ago,
and has used it ever since. 1t is a
two unit machine, that is, it will milk
two COWS at time, and it cost 1856
installed, complete with u gasoline
engine. Before the machine was pur-
chased, it required three persons to
milk the fourteen COWS kept on the
farm. Since then, his son, now six
teen years of age, does the milking
in the same length of time. The
cows are MIXED clean and like the
machine much better than they like
to be MIXED by hand. Mr.. Hopp
states that it requires less than five
minutes per day to care for the ma
chine and keep it clean. In the two
years he has spent So for repairs,
most Of which has been for antiseptic
for cleaning the machine and the rest
for rubbers on the teat cups, and he
believes that the machine swill last
indefinitely. According to oMr. Hopp
any farmer who milks ten or more
COWS can afford to do his milking by
machinery. hals 5di
Boy MIks Twenty Cows.
George McCarger of Judson is the
most enthusiastic milking machine
owner in the county. Two and one
half years ago he installed three
unit outfit at cost of S235! He used
this on twenty COWS and finds that
one boy can milk the herd in forty
five minutes. The COWS like the ma
chine better than hand milking, and
they are MIXED cleaner, requiring no
hand stripping. 1t requires about six
or seven minutes per day to keep the
machine clean and in repair. The
buttermaker at Judson tells him that
he produces the highest quality of
cream taken in at the creamery,
which he attributes to the cleaner
handling of the milk by the use of
the machine. From all appearances
his machine shows no sign of wear
and the replacement of worn parts
has been 81 in two years. Mr.. Nc
Cargar reports that he considers it
the best invention ever developed for
the farmer and that he would rather
do without any other piece of ma
chinery on his farm than to give up
his milking machine. By using it he
has been enabled to keep more cows
than he could attend to without it
and he states that his income has
been increased by about $1,000 per
year by it's use. Figuring his time at
fifteen cents per hour, Mr.. McCargar
finds that the machine saves him
$3.50 per year in labor alone, to say
of its other advantages.
Twenty Minute Job in Two.
John AnneXStad is very we'll
known and prosperous farmer of
Lake Prairie township. He purchased
a three-unit machine two years ago
and used it the first season with good
results, but being attacked by rheu-
matism last spring he has found him.
self too much crippled up to continue
the use of it this year, although his
sons like it very much and intend to
use it next season. The machine cost
$215 and was used on a herd of eight
cen cows. 1t took about an hour or an
hour and One-half to milk but he
states that he afterwards found that
the cups were larger than they should
have been and he can materially re-
duce this time. An exceptionally hard
mixer, requiring twenty minutes
when MIXED by hand could be MIXED
in two minutes by the machine. 1t
usually required about five minutes
daily to care for the machine, al
though twice the cups and tubes
were taken to the house and given a
thorough overhauling. Mr.. AnneXstad
found it desirable to strip the cows
after milking with the machine. He
had no repairs and does not believe
that the cows could possibly be in
jured by machine milking. He believes
that such an outfit would be a good
investment for any young man who