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CNY | Any older dairymen remember the Surge "surcingle" bucket milker? Also known by DeLaval users as "that swinging p---pot". Saw a pic of one at some dairy museum website hanging on a fiberglass cow. Whoever set it up was clueless as they had the strap (surcingle) behind the hipbones instead of over the mid back where it was actually placed. There was a way you handled the strap, vacuum hose and milker when you dumped the milk and I used them enough that I believe I could pick up a strap and milker today and go right at it.
Edited by skicker 10/25/2015 10:55
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| Absolutely I remember them and I didn't consider myself old til now! Lol. I think the surcingle milkers had mostly died out by the time I remember but I remember a few guys that had them still for hospital pens, fair time, etc. Hook them up to a portable vacuum pump and go. I'm chuckling about the strap hanging over the hip bones instead of over the midback, same as you, someone was clueless there.
Edited by Hereford Guy 10/25/2015 11:24
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. | Oh yeah, I remember them on my parents farm. John had put in a pipeline the year before we got married. My dad had DeLaval buckets that were nearly identical to the Surge. Remember kicky heifers sending the bucket flying sometimes too. Not a lot of the younger generation would know what a surcingle is or what it was used for.
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neia | Went from hand milking to surge bucket. Man did we think we were in heaven. What an improvement. Never forget the first cow to refuse it. Across the gutter and against the wall it went. |
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SE SD | Milked many a cow with them. Had to help the pulsator with a finger on cold
day. When the gromets broke out on the strap, we tied a knot in it.
Still got a right arm like a tree trunk :) |
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| I was atop my parents garage just last weekend, and I saw an old Surge bucket milker. I had forgotten it was there. Looking at this ad, I didn't realize these were that pricey today. I might have to send this ad to my Dad...... I was atop the garage to see how many old milk cans we had on hand. I vaguely remember milking with the Surge milker, carrying the milk in buckets to the milk house, and pouring into cans. Then the cans went into an ice bank cooler, until the truck came to pick them up. I think I was in elementary school when my Dad bought a (used) milk tank, and we quit using the milk cans. We didn't quit carrying milk in buckets until after I had graduated from college, as I recall. As a rule, we place the strap across the cows back, just in front of the hip bone. However, there were a couple of cows where we slid that strap over the hip bone - one side in front of the hip bone, and the other side in back of the hip bone. In those situations, that placement worked best on those animals to have the inflations line up with the cow's teats. |
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South Central North Dakota | Anyone milk with IH bucket milker that sat beside the cows? For the Guernsey cows it was ok but on Brown Swiss it was a tough carry to dump at age 12. |
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S.E. Sask. | Yes, we used a couple of those Surge bucket milkers for a while in the seventies. It was some improvment on hand milking but for the small number we had to milk I think the clean up time pretty much negated any advantage. Still got the whole system stored away in the barn. |
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Franklinton, LA | I remember the old Surge and DeLaval bucket type milking equipment. In early 1956 I saw my first pipe line milking system at MS State University. I thought this was simply too complicated for a dairy. I guess the best thing about the buckets and cans was the recirculating cold water coolers. These things were great for cooling watermelons.
Edited by DRester 10/25/2015 14:30
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CNY | I'd forgot that DeLaval did make a surcingle type milker for a while. To compete for Surge users I suppose. Most DeLavals were floor pails. That's what I got when I went on my own. |
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CNY | The pulsator in that ad isn't familiar to me. The earlier pulsators could be a pain as Poverty mentioned. They had leather seals that would deteriorate and fail and needed cleaning up too. Preventive maintenance was a foreign concept where I worked and fixing in the middle of milking was common. Also had a large bore inflation which milked real fast but if you didn't drop them of right away, left the teat red, swollen and with a ring on the top. The narrower Cushion Dome inflations were a big improvement for the teats but were somewhat slower. |
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| I am notre that old and i have learned to milk with these bellies. For à 12 13 old kid it was easier to Carrie 50 # of milk to the bulk tank in two pails than to go with only one. I still have beautiful shoulder my wife says |
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neia | When I was in high school I noticed my dad cooled beer in that same cooler. |
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NW-Ohio | Still have the two Surge milkers we had when I was a kid. Sold the cows when I went to the service 50 years ago, go memories but wouldn't go back. |
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nw pa | after a while you got the knack of carrying the strap over your left shoulder ,milker in the right hand ,throw the strap over the back of cow lean over to hook it while slipping the bucket into the strap. all the while carrying the vac hose with the bucket hand. |
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West Texas | Twice a day, we hooked up the vacuum hose up to the old ford tractor to run the two milkers. Daddy always said we could go back to miliking by hand. |
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| We still use a Surge bucket milker a couple times a week. Not about to milk a Jersey by hand
 (milking 001.JPG)
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 milking 001.JPG (136KB - 190 downloads)
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| Milking at our house or barn should we say evolved like this. Milked by hand till was old enough to go to football practice etc. Up until that time we 'separated' all milk and sold cream. No can coolers.
At exact time of high school came this marvelous invention of the 'Dela-valve' bucket. AND a bulk tank.
At the exact time I left home came a pipeline system and a different tank that went with it.
Now keep in mind this was ALL well used by somebody else and made a good deal to us.
With the buckets on the floor a stubborn cow could deal you fits. our cousins had the straps and hanging surge buckets and we were jealous cause they looked so much easier.
It probably was all made much worse since cows were always sloppy wet and crapped up to the ears in poor flat lots,,,coupled by the fact their were 10 cows crammed into the space 7 or 8 should have been,,,cause we can save space on these stanchions. ALWAYS pinched hard between and stepped on and kicked by ornery knotheads.. My DAD always was quite skilled/good at coming home for milking when the last milker came off the last cow. My dad always claimed he milked cows,,actually somebody else,mostly my mom did 80% of the time.
Even carrying that floor bucket when full was quite a load. And getting it up over the strainer over the tank lid. Few cows had to have bucket changed mid milk to hold all. But thinking back better nutrition would have increased our milk check
Interesting thread,,,any one remember what they fed their milk cows in the 50-60s era???
Edited by don@nebr 10/25/2015 17:13
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Hillsdale Michigan | we had 4 55# units used them up until 87 when we moved to a farm with a surge side open parlor with 3 stalls |
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barry county mi | I helped neighbor lady in mid 50s when her husband got hill when he rollded cub farmall . we used two surge units When I started on my own I had two surge units I used for a year and a Jet star moline with a petcock to hook hose to the vacume line if the power went out or troubole with vacume pump. |
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| Started out with DeLaval floor milkers with magnetic pulsation. Been 28 years since I've used one. Was never interested in harnessing a cow to milk her with a Surge. |
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Central In | My dad started using a Hinman in Sept. 1946. Later, he switched to Surge. I may have a milker down in my storage building. Yes, I remember the pulsators needing help from time to time |
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CNY | Yeah, we milked during the northeast blackout late '60's with vacuum from a Farmall Super M manifold. |
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CNY | You got it. |
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CNY | "50's, late June/early July dry hay and corn silage. 16% cow feed from the local mill no matter what forage was like. A little ration tweaking using Morrison's Feeds and Feeding. Lotta hand labor, no silo unloader. Wet summer, poor hay poured 50/50 hot water molasses mix on it to get the cows to eat more. Started to get smarter in '60's. |
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CNY | Hinman made near hear Oneida, NY I believe. Was a Hinman pipeline on this farm when I bought it. Before we moved converted it to DeLaval except for the pump. Old Man Hinman heard about it and refused to let that pump be serviced when it broke down one night. Had a new DeLaval pumpin by midnight. ~$600. Didn't know where I'd come up with that money. |
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| Conde was made right up the road in Sherrill too. |
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| They have new style pulsators for them now and you have to use an adapter, which doesn't give you a lot of room to get the surcingle bar slipped between and on the bucket handle. They don't sound as neat as the old Surge pulsator but they sure work a lot better. |
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S.C. Wisconsin | My dad started milking with the floor model Delaval, we tried some Surge buckets with the straps on one side of the barn. We had less mastitis with the Surge side so he switched to the Surge. Looking back the DeLaval had a claw that was way undersized and I am sure it was flooded most of the time with vacuum's going all over the place. The Surge broke the column of milk right away leading to a stable vacuum at the teat ends. That was long before they could measure vacuum at the teat end. Later the claws were made a lot bigger with more capacity. Then we bought Surge pipeline and still used the Surge breaker cup with the strap again. Then surge came out with the Mini-cup claw that didn't use the strap. After trying different claws we settled on the Bou-matic and that is what we still use today in our parlor. |
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NC Iowa | I spent a lot of time in my youth hanging surge buckets. A few years ago i ran across them stored away. I listed them on ebay, and they brought good money. The buyers were going to have them converted for use with dairy goats. Parts are still available.
The surge guy used to stop by every few weeks to sell supplies and make sure everything was working as it should. |
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| I got the impression those were updated (improved?) pulsators that are being sold. You may remember pulsators more like this one, which closely resembles what we had. |
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| I remember hooking up our John Deere a time or two to milk cows, when the power went out. I don't recall if it was the JD 2010 or 2510. We had both (but not at the same time). I remember using one, but I don't remember which one, and it was not done often. |
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| But that style bucket can't be used any more. That type had the seam in the middle, and it was known to harbor bacteria. I also heard once there was a problem with the solder, but not sure if that was true. |
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Central MN | We still used one for bucket cows up until about 07 when we moved into the new barn. There's probably still some straps on the wall. |
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just a tish NE of central ND | I believe it was 47 years of surge bucket milkers that I can remember here. I could still do it in my sleep.
Over 51 or 52 years and my folks and my wife and kids never had any one milk for us and we never missed a milking all at the same time in all of those years. |
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CNY | A number of those got put somewhere during the day so the "milk inspector" wouldn't see them.
Yes that is the original pulsator and the large bore inflations.
Edited by skicker 10/26/2015 06:10
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Michigan - Saginaw County | Yup, me too. Surge milkers and hanger straps; spreading hay in the mangers; forking manure and rinsing the trench; spreading straw under the girls; the sound of a row of milkers pulsing away still makes me feel good
fresh heifers were the worst
been kicked off my feet and into the trench a couple of times - in my defense it was a really big holstein heifer and I was 9 years old
straining to lift a full milker and carry it to the milk house - by the time I was 10 dad could no longer do the chores
cleaning the milkers after milking - I hated that job
checking the cooling tank on an August day and spotting a bottle of Red Pop dad tossed in for me - I loved that job
adding a slug of bicarb of soda to the cans if the pH was dropping - I developed a really accurate taste for milk that was beginning to turn; to this day 65 years later I can taste milk that is going bad two to three days before the wife; it really annoys her when I refuse the current gallon and go open a fresh one; but I'm always right and she tosses the current jug out a day or two later
after leaving the farm it was five years before I could drink store milk - it still tastes like chalk and water
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scky | Yup, milked with a Surge, for many years, and thought it was the better than a factory donut. I still have a Surge and DeLaval bellie pails. They are complete, minus inflations. The belts most likely are dry-rotted but are still in the corn crib, by the way is still around./ |
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Surge milking machine
