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Story: Farm buildings

Old milking shed

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Old milking shed

Milking was a family job in the 19th and early 20th century, and conditions were primitive. A cow waits to enter the milking shed on this North Island bush dairy farm in the 1890s. The cows are being hand-milked in bails (stalls). Afterwards, each cow backs out of the bail into the small yard in front of the shed before being let out to graze.

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Puke Ariki - Taranaki Museum & Library

Reference: PHO2002-790

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How to cite this page

Robert Peden, Farm buildings – Milking sheds, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/18493/old-milking-shed (accessed 11 June 2026).

Story by Robert Peden, published 1 March 2009.