Cattle Boss teat dip cup non-return

Details

An ordinary dip cup is a container of solution that every teat in the string dips into. By the end of the row you are applying whatever came off the first twenty cows. The non-return valve in this cup is what stops that: dip flows up into the working chamber, and what falls back off the teat cannot get into the reservoir. That is not a small detail. Teat dip is applied specifically to reduce the spread of mastitis-causing organisms between cows, and a contaminated cup does the opposite of what you bought the dip for. The valve is the difference between a hygiene practice and a hygiene theatre. In use it wants a decent squeeze to charge the chamber, then a full dip covering the whole teat barrel including the end, since the teat end is where infection actually enters. Refill from the container rather than topping up from a bucket that has been sitting out. Empty it, rinse it and let it drain after every milking. The valve is the part that fails, and it fails by gumming up with dried dip, so the rinse is what keeps the cup honest. Check that it is still holding back flow every so often by tipping it. Which dip, at what concentration, and pre or post milking are label decisions and worth going through with your veterinarian or milk inspector.