Heritage
Unimog as a mobile milking unit in agriculture.
The shortage of personnel in agriculture after the Second World War made the industry inventive and led to numerous innovations. A joint product of Eduard Ahlborn AG, milking machine works, and Eduard Ahlborn AG, agricultural machinery division, was the Ahlborn Melkexpress presented at the 1956 DLG in Hanover. It was a Unimog U 25 of the 402 model series with 25 hp, a closed cab and a wheelbase of 2,120 mm.
The Unimog Melkexpress as a valuable helper in agriculture
Collaborative and precise
This vehicle caused a stir because it was intended to represent a new method of milking. With it, milk was to be brought directly from the pasture or the barn to the dairy. This would relieve the farmer of the milking work, while feeding and care of the livestock would remain in the farmer's hands. The vehicle was intended for use in farmer milking cooperatives or by dairies. The capacity was given as 100 to 120 cows during a single milking session.
The description of the invention reads plausibly: The wagon, manned by a milker and a milking assistant, drives up to the barn or to the milking stand in the pasture. The vacuum pump is connected and the milking begins with the milking system in the usual way. The milking assistant empties the milk pails into the collecting receptacle. The quantity of milk is measured and pumped into the chilled tank. A small sample can be taken from a sampling tap to determine the average fat content. After milking is completed, the producer receives a receipt for the quantity of milk delivered, and the teat cups and other equipment are disinfected. An insulated 1,000-l refrigerated milk tank equipped with an agitator is used to collect the milk. The milk is cooled by a refrigerant compressor to around seven to eight degrees Celsius.
Unimog takes over milk logistics.
Shortly afterwards, a Unimog U 30 of the 411 model series served as the chassis, also with a wheelbase of 2120 mm and the type B closed cab. Depending on the customer's wishes, various configurations such as the position and size of the skimmed milk tanks could be realised.
Today it can no longer be determined how many Unimog Melkexpress vehicles were built. It is said there were between six and ten, of which two or three were delivered to the former East Germany. To this day, the Ahlborn company is one of the 17 Unimog general distributors in Germany.
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