The first successful commercial milking machine was produced in 1889 by a Scottish plumber, William Murchland. Other commercial machines were developed in the following years by an assortment of plumbers, tinsmiths, inventor-farmers, doctors and engineers (Dodd and Hall, 1992). For the next 60 years or so, the main basis for further development and commercialization of milking machines seemed to have been the 'suck it and see' approach. The first real scientific contributions to understanding the possible links between milking machines, milking management and mastitis were conducted in Iowa and in Ireland in the 1960s. This review charts some of the diversions, dead-ends and significant leaps forward since those early days, and offers some recommendations for the path ahead.
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