306 



A STUDY OF FARM ANIMALS 



periods, the milk will show the greater percentage amounts 

 of solids and fat in the shorter interval. 



Regularity in milking is important. The dairy cow, to 

 do her best, should not only be fed regularly, but milked 

 with equal regularity. Thus, as a matter of habit, she will 

 respond to the care of the milker, and will give down without 

 restraint. Experiments at the Ontario station showed that 

 when the cows were milked irregularly the practice some- 

 what reduced the yield and the per cent of fat in the milk. 



The influence of the milking machine on production, 

 when properly manipulated and cared for, may be very 



Figure 129. Milking with the De Laval cow milker. Photograph from 

 De Laval Separator Company. 



satisfactory. Cows milked by the machine seem undis- 

 turbed by its action, and give down their milk as in ordinary 

 good hand milking. It is necessary, however, to watch the 

 machine with reasonable care, and, as a rule, the cows must 

 be stripped by hand after the machine has done its work. 

 The most important factor in the successful use of the 

 milker is a competent man, who has an intelligent knowledge 

 of machinery and who will take proper care of it and see 



