10 Aug., 1917.] Where the Dairyman's Props go. 507 



much richer in butter fat than the bulk of the yield. Further, if a 

 cow Ikj not thorouglily " stripped " at each inilkin,t; tliere is a tendency 

 on the part of tlie animal to give a i5mallcr quantity at subsequent 

 milkings. Nature provides tliat tlie cow should give sufficient milk to 

 supply the wants of her calf, and if the udder be repeatedly sucked 

 dry, there is an inducement for her to produce more milk. If the 

 quantity available for the calf be not used by it, -she gradually gives 

 less, until the demand and the supply are more nearly equal. Thorough 

 milking thus makes for greater production, while leaving milk in the 

 udder will gradually reduce the yield. When, therefore, thorough 

 milking is absolutely necessary to obtain both the full quantity and 

 quality of each cow's milk, it is obvious that the owner, who neglects to 

 give proper attention to the milking operation, will not obtain the 

 maximum yield. 



Not infrequently is the staternent made that dairy herds give milk 

 of much poorer quality in. the spring time than during other seasons. 

 Where the hulk of the cows in a herd are freshly calved, and have thus 

 not reached their normal quality of milk, while yet giving a heavy 

 bulk yield, there is a possibility of the quality not being quite what is 

 desired. In many instances, however, it will be found on investigation 

 that the milking operation is not being carried out properly, and that 

 in consequence the quality is low. In the spring flush, milkers are 

 frequently careless about stripping each cow, and, there being a large 

 bulk yield from the herd, the owner may not suspect that it might 

 possibly be still larger, and the price obtainable does not encourage 

 him to try to improve it. But as the season advances, and the grass 

 is drying, with a consequent reduction in the milk yield, and the 

 price at the same time increasing, a little inquiry or supervision 

 by the owner is likely to result in the cows being stripped out better, and 

 the quality of the milk thus increased. Where several milkers are dealing 

 with a large herd of heavy milkers there is too often a tendency to 

 finish each cow as soon as possible, and to hear of men milking from 

 fourteen to seventeen cows per hour is not at all unusual. When it is 

 considered that this allows about four minutes per cow, in which pos- 

 sibly more than 10 quarts has to be taken, and that the milker has 

 to transfer this quantity to a receiving can and move to anoUier 

 animal, it will be recognised that very little attention can be given 

 to the work of stripping, and therefore the milk richest in butter fat 

 globules is possibly not taken from many cows for days together. On 

 one occasion after placing this aspect of the milking work before a 

 dairyman, he promised to look more closely into> the matter, and later 

 informed me that the result was far beyond even what I had given him 

 t« understand as possible. In fact, his increased return for one week 

 was exactly 56 lbs., or one box of butter. This demonstrates that a 

 little oversight may put quite a diilerent view on the financial side of 

 dairy work. It also suggests that an extra fast milker may perhaps 

 not be a very desirable acquisition on the farm. 



At one time, in the course of a dairy herd inspection during milking 

 time, I handled .53 cows after they were milked, and not one of these 

 had been properly stripped, several of them having over a pint of milk 

 still in the udder. In a herd of this size even a pint per cow left 



