MILK PRODUCTION 



479 



haps be interpreted as due to overstimulation or mechanical 

 irritation of the udder. 



TABLE 126. EFFECT OF FREQUENT MILKING 



Results obtained in short experiments, however, give an 

 altogether exaggerated idea of the practical advantage of fre- 

 quent milking. As Fleischmann has shown, the capacity of 

 the udder adjusts itself quite definitely to its productive activity 

 and in the measure in which this takes place the gain due to 

 more frequent milking diminishes or disappears. He estimates 

 the increased yield obtained by three as compared with two daily 

 milkings at about 6 or 7 per cent. In many cases, therefore, 

 it will be questionable whether the additional milk obtained by 

 a third milking will be at all sufficient to pay for the extra labor 

 involved. In the case of very productive cows in the earlier 

 stages of lactation more frequent milking may be necessary, 

 not so much for the sake of obtaining the extra milk as for the 

 sake of avoiding inflammatory conditions in the udder and es- 

 pecially for preventing the permanent depression of the secret- 

 ing power which would follow incomplete milking and which 

 would mean a loss of milk throughout the whole lactation. 



574. Influence of frequent milking on composition of milk. 

 Frequent milking tends to increase the percentage of solids and 

 of fat in the milk. This effect is manifest especially when the 

 intervals between the milkings are of unequal length. 



When milking takes place at regular intervals, the several 

 milkings tend to have about the same average composition. 

 If the intervals vary in length, the milk obtained after the 

 shorter interval on the average contains a higher percentage of 



