Milking pipeline

A milking pipeline or milk pipeline is a component of a dairy farm animal-milking operation which is used to transfer milk from the animals to a cooling and storage bulk tank.

Setup

In small dairy farms with less than 100 cows, goats or sheep, the pipeline is installed above the animals' stalls and they are then are milked in sequence by moving down the row of stalls. The milking machine is a lightweight transportable hose assembly which is plugged into sealed access ports along the pipeline.

In the United States, for farmers who participate in the voluntary Dairy Herd Improvement Association, approximately once a month the milk volume from each animal is measured using additional portable metering devices inserted between the milker and the pipeline.

In large dairy farms with more than 100 animals, the pipeline is installed within a milking parlor that the animals walk through in order to be milked at fixed stations. Because the machine is stationary, it can include additional fixed equipment such as computerized milk-metering systems to measure volume, which would be cumbersome to use with portable milkers.