Apparatus and method for cleaning a milking system

A method of cleaning a plurality of teat cups, the method comprising the sequential steps of:

• with a robotic manipulation device, grasping each of a plurality of teat cups, located in a rest position in a teat cup magazine and moving the grasped teat cups to teats of a cow;
• with a teat cup retraction system, returning the teat cups from the teats of the cow to the rest position in the teat cup magazine;
• with the robotic manipulation device, moving the teat cups from the teat cup magazine to a cleaning implement, and cleaning the teat cups,
• wherein the robotic manipulation device deposits the teat cups, in turn and individually, in sealing engagement on respective wash nozzles of the cleaning implement;
• and
• with the teat cup retraction system, returning the teat cups from the cleaning implement to the rest position within the teat cup magazine.

A method of cleaning a plurality of teat cups, the method comprising the steps of:

• using a robotic manipulation device to move the plurality of teat cups from a teat cup magazine to a second position;
• and
• cleaning the teat cups at the second position,
• wherein the robotic manipulation device deposits the teat cups individually, in turn, at the second position.

An apparatus for cleaning a milking system, the apparatus comprising:

• a teat cup magazine;
• and
• a robotic manipulation device adapted to manipulate teat cups to i) connect the teat cups to teats of an animal and ii) move the teat cups from the teat cup magazine to a cleaning position,
• wherein the robotic manipulation device is operable to deposit the teat cups individually, in turn, at the cleaning position.