VARIABLE SHUT OFF TEAT CUP LINER

A variable shut off teat cup liner has a mouthpiece, a barrel and a short milk tube adapted for mounting onto a nipple of a milking claw. The short milk tube includes a segment intended for engagement with an edge of the nipple defining an opening, the segment being intended for bending over the opening to substantial close it to passage of vacuum-drawn air therethrough when the teat cup liner is in a non-milking generally downwardly bending position. The segment preferably includes a multiplicity of circumferentially extending grooves and a multiplicity of longitudinally extending grooves which form lugs. When the segment is bent over the opening, the lugs provide improved cut resistance. The circumferentially extending grooves have different axial spacing whereby the amount of overlap of the short milk tube over the nipple maybe varied to provide the proper amount of bending according to the weight of the teat cup receiving the liner and the existing environmental conditions.