Last week, we had the vet out to analyze our milking procedure and equipment to see if there were any things that we could change to help our SCC (somatic cell count-this is one of the ways the industry measures the quality of the milk. The lower the somatic cell count the more we get paid for our milk). One of the things he suggested was a new vacuum pump for the milking system. The one we had was old and allowed way to much fluctuation on the vacuum levels. Well, while he was there, one of the pumps died (we had a weird two oiled vacuum pump system). This was not the first time that has happened, but it was the last.
We called Agri-Service in Hagerstown, MD and scheduled them to come out the next day and install a new one.
We had to use the tractor to pull the old one out, because it was so heavy. It was actually two pumps with an oil reservoir. That pump was taken out in two pieces.
And the oil reservoir ...
Then, they put in a shiny, new, OIL-LESS pump. So nice not to have all of the oil all over the place. The old pump made a mess of the whole corner it sat in because of the oil. Also, the oilers would sometimes quit working from time to time and deafen you if you were too close for too long. So, Danny would try to open up the oilers more, which would fill the room up with smoke. Needless to say, we are THANKFUL for the new pump!
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| for some reason, Blogger won't upload the picture vertically... but the pump is still pretty :) |
They didn't quite have the equipment to go through all of THAT, so they came back another day and finished installing the muffler correctly :)
Hooray for a new vacuum pump which means better care for our cows, and hopefully lower SCC!
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