The milking and dairy equipment of a number of domestic enterprises is very worn out. The wear of milking equipment is caused by non-compliance with their maintenance and repair. To assess the reliability of individual elements and systems of milking machines used in production and to determine the ways to improve their operational characteristics, the authors analyzed the operation of enterprises located in the the Lyskovo district of the Nizhny Novgorod region using the most common linear milking machines. They analyzed failures and the time spent on ensuring the operability of milking systems. As a result of the study, the structure of failures for various systems and elements of milking machines was determined. The study determined the values of individual reliability indicators – operating time for failure and the failure fl ow parameter. The value of the availability coefficient, which characterizes both reliability and maintainability, was determined. The analysis of the reliability indicators of milking units showed that the largest number of failures of linear milking units falls on milking machines (41.2 %), on the primary milk processing system (16.5 %) and the vacuum system (11.3 %). In the vacuum system, most of the failures are associated with the vacuum regulator (54.5 %). In the dairy system, group counters are vulnerable elements. In milking machines, faulty teat cups account for 45 % of failures, in which the nipple rubber wears out intensively. The lowest operating time for failure of milking machines and the dairy system indicates the need to improve their designs and the system of technical service. For elements of primary milk processing systems, the washing of milking equipment, and the vacuum system, the time required to eliminate failures is more than two hours, therefore, it is recommended to organize an exchange pool of spare parts and a modular repair method.