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more at http://quickfound.net/links/agriculture_news_and_links.html "This color film portrays the happenings on a dairy farm. Emphasizes the importance of milk, and the service of cows to mankind." Public domain film from the Prelinger Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and mild video noise reduction applied. The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting of animal milk -- mostly from cows or goats, but also from buffalo, sheep, horses or camels -- for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on a dedicated dairy farm or section of a multi-purpose farm that is concerned with the harvesting of milk. Terminology differs between countries. For example, in the United States, the entire dairy farm is commonly called a "dairy." The building or farm area where milk is harvested from the cow is often called a "milking parlor" or "parlor." The farm area where milk is stored in bulk tanks is known as the farm's "milk house." Milk is then hauled (usually by truck) to a "dairy plant," also referred to as a "dairy", where raw milk is further processed and prepared for commercial sale of dairy products. In New Zealand, farm areas for milk harvesting are also called "milking parlours", and are historically known as "milking sheds." As in the United States, sometimes milking sheds are referred to by their type, such as "herring bone shed" or "pit parlour". In some countries, especially those with small numbers of animals being milked, the farm may perform the functions of a dairy plant, processing their own milk into salable dairy products, such as butter, cheese, or yogurt. This is on-site processing is a traditional method of producing specialist milk products, common in Europe. In the United States a dairy can also be a place that processes, distributes and sells dairy products, or a room, building or establishment where milk is stored and processed into milk products, such as butter or cheese. In New Zealand English the singular use of the word dairy almost exclusively refers to a corner shop, or superette. This usage is historical as such shops were a common place for the public to buy milk products. As an attributive, the word dairy refers to milk-based products, derivatives and processes, and the animals and workers involved in their production: for example dairy cattle, dairy goat. A dairy farm produces milk and a dairy factory processes it into a variety of dairy products. These establishments constitute the global dairy industry, a component of the food industry... Historically, the milking and the processing took place close together in space and time: on a dairy farm. People milked the animals by hand; on farms where only small numbers are kept, hand-milking may still be practiced. Hand-milking is accomplished by grasping the teats (often pronounced tit or tits) in the hand and expressing milk either by squeezing the fingers progressively, from the udder end to the tip, or by squeezing the teat between thumb and index finger, then moving the hand downward from udder towards the end of the teat. The action of the hand or fingers is designed to close off the milk duct at the udder (upper) end and, by the movement of the fingers, close the duct progressively to the tip to express the trapped milk. Each half or quarter of the udder is emptied one milk-duct capacity at a time. The stripping action is repeated, using both hands for speed. Both methods result in the milk that was trapped in the milk duct being squirted out the end into a bucket that is supported between the knees (or rests on the ground) of the milker, who usually sits on a low stool. Traditionally the cow, or cows, would stand in the field or paddock while being milked. Young stock, heifers, would have to be trained to remain still to be milked. In many countries, the cows were tethered to a post and milked. The problem with this method is that it relies on quiet, tractable beasts, because the hind end of the cow is not restrained. In 1937, it was found that bovine somatotropin (BST or bovine growth hormone) would increase the yield of milk. Monsanto Company developed a synthetic (recombinant) version of this hormone (rBST). In February 1994, rBST was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in the U.S... Most dairy farmers milk their cows with absolute regularity at a minimum of twice a day, with some high-producing herds milking up to four times a day to lessen the weight of large volumes of milk in the udder of the cow. This daily milking routine goes on for about 300 to 320 days per year that the cow stays in milk...