Title:
Uncooperative Goat Becomes the Mother of an
Invention
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
See text below
Text:
Mike Henry has a two-hectare farm in Palmer, Alaska.
About a year and a half ago, his goat Millie was
giving him a hard time. She did not want to be
milked. She kicked her back legs and stepped into
the bucket that was supposed to catch her milk. But
there was no milk to catch. All Mike Henry got was
tired hands from his attempts to milk her.But he
also got an idea. He designed a goat milking machine
that does not require any electricity or motors. The
Henry Milker is a hand-operated vacuum pump. A
person attaches a tube to the goat and, after a
little pumping, the milk begins to flow. A gauge
measures the pressure of the suction. The process
uses a closed system to keep hair and dirt out of
the milk. The milk goes directly from the goat into
a container that is then placed in the refrigerator
to keep the milk cold. Mike Henry has sold his
invention to hundreds of people, mainly small
farmers who also hold other jobs -- just as he does.
Mr. Henry is an executive director in the Anchorage
School District in Alaska.He considered spending
more than one thousand dollars for an electric
milking machine. But that seemed like a lot of money
to milk just one goat. So he began to develop a
device of his own. He worked with parts that he
bought from an auto supply store and a Wal-Mart
store. He tried the invention on Millie. How did she
react? She gave a little milk. As the months passed,
he improved the device. Milking Millie became easy.
Mike Henry began to think other people who owned
just a few goats might be interested in his
invention. So he offered one on eBay, an Internet
marketplace. The first one sold for forty-five
dollars. Interest grew. Today, he receives orders
from as far away as Australia and New Zealand. The
regular price is one hundred forty-nine dollars.
Recently he has offered the system for one hundred
nineteen dollars, plus shipping and handling
charges, at goatfinder.com. The system is advertised
as safe enough for children to use. The ad also says
it is not designed to replace commercial
machines.The average milking time with the Henry
Milker is ten minutes. Mike Henry says Millie now
gives about two liters in half that time. And that's
the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. What is
your secret to gaining the cooperation of a goat at
milking time? You can comment at
voaspecialenglish.com or on Facebook or Twitter at
VOA Learning English.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
