84 Report of Department of Animal Industry of the 



The records of the 29 cows as given in the above table include 

 five lactation periods of five cows, four periods of three cows, 

 three periods of nine cows and two periods of twelve cows, or a 

 total of 88 complete lactation periods. During 43 of these 

 periods the cow was milked bj hand and during 45 periods by 

 machine. 



By comparing the yields obtained when any cow was milked by 

 the two methods during successive periods it is possible to obtain 

 55 comparisons of which 32 were in favor of the hand method and 

 23 were favorable to the machine method of milking. On the 

 face of these results it appears that while the amount of milk ob- 

 tained by the two methods is about the same the chances are 

 about two out of three that a little more milk will be obtained by 

 hand milking. 



From the column of remarks at the right of the table it will be 

 seen that many of the cows were somewhat abnormal at some time 

 during the test. 



Five of the cows lost portions of their udders either through 

 accident or froon garget. In such cases the yields for the periods 

 of lactation in which such mishaps occurred are not included in 

 the table and the cows were removed from the experiment. 



Four of the cows were sold on account of sterility. During 

 their last milking periods two were milked by hand and two by 

 machine. These items would seem to be well balanced were it not 

 for the fact that ]^o. 8 in her closing period had an unusual flow. 

 Her gain of 2,700 lbs. was probably not due to the fact that she 

 was hand milked, as she had yielded fairly uniformly during the 

 four preceding years. It may be ascribed to great bodily vigor 

 unhampered by the demands of gestation. 



During 1908 four of the young cows calved prematurely as 

 well as one each in 1909 and 1910. Under such conditions their 

 yields can not be considered as normal and their failure to pro- 

 duce as much as during other lactation periods can not justly be 

 ascribed to the method of milking. Accordingly the results from 

 these six periods of lactation should be omitted from the compari- 

 sons. This would destroy eight of the above comparisons, four of 

 which were favorable to each method. 



