Milking Cows on Shabbos
Milking a cow (or goat, etc.) on Shabbos or Yom Tov is strictly forbidden. Although some Rishonim maintain that it is merely forbidden miderabanan,46 the Halachah follows the vast majority of poskim who rule that it is forbidden min Hatorah.47 Rashi and most Rishonim explain that milking falls under the forbidden Shabbos Labor of Threshing (“Dash”), which is defined as the act of extracting a substance from the source of its growth, as in threshing kernels of grain from the chaff. Here, too, the milk is being extracted from where it “grew” in the animal’s udder. Other Rishonim suggest that milking falls under the categories of Sorting (borer)48 or Shearing (gozez).49 Yet another view maintains that squeezing the udders falls under the category of Smoothing a Surface (memachik), as the udders are smoothened during the milking.
Dairy cattle suffer great pain if they are not milked for a full day, so not milking them on Shabbos is not an option; it would be a violation of tza’ar ba’alei chayim. A possible solution, which was more practical when most Jews owned but a few cows and needed only a small amount of milk for their family, was to milk the cows on Shabbos while letting the milk go to waste as the milking proceeded.50 The milking is done into a vessel containing a substance which rendered the milk unfit to drink upon contact. Sometimes, the milk is allowed to simply spill onto the ground or go down the drain. [It is forbidden to temporarily store the milk in a clean container or storage tank, even if it will be immediately thereafter dumped out.]51
Nowadays, this option is no longer viable. Especially in the modern state of Israel, where millions of consumers require a steady supply of kosher milk, wasting an entire day’s production will create serious shortages, to say nothing of the financial loss involved. Consequently, the poskim suggest two52 practical options as to how it may be permitted to milk dairy cattle on Shabbos and still be able to use the milk after Shabbos is over. Both of these options may be used l’chatchilah:
Many large dairies own automated milking machines, and these may be set to turn on and off at preset times by means of a Shabbos clock.53 There are various types of milking machines, but from a Halachic standpoint, the preferable ones are those that permit the machine to be attached to the cow’s udders while the machine is off.54 Although on Shabbos the milk may not be drunk and, in fact, may not even be moved as it is considered muktzeh,55 once Shabbos is over, it may be consumed immediately.56
The other option, expressly permitted by the Shulchan Aruch, is to instruct a non-Jew before Shabbos to milk the Jewish-owned cows on Shabbos.57 The Jew may stand nearby to supervise the milking in order to make sure that the milk will be chalav yisrael and to ascertain that no milk is lost or stolen. Here, too, the milk is muktzeh on Shabbos but permitted to be consumed immediately after Shabbos.58
All of the above halachos concerning milking on Shabbos apply to Yom Tov as well.
46. See Ramban, Shabbos 95a and 144b. See Teshuvos Yaavetz 2:77.
47. See Tzitz Eliezer 2:3 for a review of all of the various views.
48. Rashba, Shabbos 144b.
49. See Shita Mekubetzes, Kesuvos 60a.
50. Although some Rishonim hold that miderabanan it is forbidden to milk a cow even if the milk is wasted, it is permitted to do so in order to avoid the prohibition of tza’ar ba’alei chayim; Achiezer 3:34; Chazon Ish, O.C. 56:4.
51. Chazon Ish, O.C. 55:6. See Mishnah Berurah 320:18.
52. Another option suggested by some poskim, to do the milking into solid food (thus avoiding the prohibition of Threshing, based on O.C. 505:1) was rejected by most contemporary poskim and is not practical; see Achiezer 3:34.
53. Chazon Ish, O.C. 38:4.
54. See Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchasah 27, note 171 for a full discussion of this issue.
55. Mishnah Berurah 305:71. In order to make sure that the muktzeh milk is not moved after the milking, the milk should be funneled directly from the cow into the refrigerated tank which will store the milk until after Shabbos. Bedieved, however, if such an arrangement cannot be made and there is a likelihood of the milk spoiling and causing a substantial financial loss, several poskim permit moving the milk to the storage tanks; Chazon Ish and Rav S.Z. Auerbach, quoted in Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchasah 27, note 164.
56. Based on Mishnah Berurah 318:14.
57. O.C. 305:20. Although it is generally forbidden to instruct a non-Jew to perform a melachah for the benefit of a Jew, here it is permitted because of tza’ar ba’alei chayim.
58. As an added stringency, it is recommended to “buy” the milk from the non-Jew for a nominal amount, so that it appears as if the non-Jew milked the cows for his own gain and not to benefit the Jew; see Aruch ha-Shulchan 305:20.