320 DAIRYING COWS AND THEIR MANAGEMENT 



there is the risk of careless milkers doing it roughly, and 

 thereby irritating and charing the skin. It is better to " dry 

 milk " or handle young cows for some weeks before calving to 

 break them in, and by gentle treatment coax them to stand 

 quietly. Special care is necessary immediately after calving, 

 while the udder is hard and painful. Sometimes a nervous 

 or wicked cow, or one with sore teats from cow-pox, raw from 

 the attacks of flies, hacking from exposure to cold east winds 

 or chilly nights with heavy dews in summer, will stand in no 

 other way than with a man holding her head with a finger 

 and thumb in her nostrils. After a time, in many cases, the 

 presence of a person near the shoulder is sufficient, without 

 holding, showing that if care had been bestowed at first this 

 unnecessary expense and trouble might have been avoided. 

 Sometimes an intractable cow is secured by " bulldogs," 

 " humbugs," or " sister hooks " put in the nostrils, and by a 

 rope attached tied to the railing in front. 



There is no " right " and " wrong " side of a cow on which 

 to milk. In double-stalled byres the milker places himself 

 between two cows, milks one from the right side, and then 

 turns round and takes the other on the left. It is well to 

 train a cow, especially a show animal, so that she can be 

 milked from either side, as this tends to keep the udder more 

 evenly balanced, else it may grow heavier on, and hang to, 

 the milking side. The near-hind and far-fore, and far-hind 

 and near-fore teats, should be milked together alternately. 



Cows with very small teats, especially when swollen after 

 calving, are very difficult to milk, and tiring for the hands of 

 the milker, as only the forefinger and thumb can be used. 

 Others are "stiff" to milk, from the passages of the teats 

 being small. These can be widened by inserting a form of 

 bistoury, with a cutting surface on the out- 

 side of the thinner of two blades that open 



FIG. 14. like a glove-stretcher, but it should be used 



BISTOURY (OPEN). , , . , r , 



only by a veterinary surgeon and after care- 

 ful antiseptic preparation. When this operation is overdone, 

 milk flows without the action of milking. A safer method of 

 improvement, in ordinary hands, is that of using a small 

 cone of metal or wood (in preference to ivory, sometimes 

 recommended), which is greased and left in the canal of the 

 teat to distend it between milking times. The bistoury is 



