MILK PRODUCTION 423 



in large quantities, the retention of the same beyond the 

 usual time produces discomfort. No more certain method 

 of reducing the milk flow can be adapted than that which 

 withdraws the milk from the udder at irregular intervals, 

 and the reduction is further increased when the milk is 

 not all taken from the udder, a neglect of which careless 

 milkers are frequently guilty. 



Milk elaboration is more or less influenced by the 

 nervous system preceding and accompanying such elabora- 

 tion. Nervous calm is favorable to the process, and 

 nervous unrest unfavorable. This explains in part at least 

 why it is so harmful to chase cows in milk with dogs. It 

 also explains why noisy and rough herdsmen, even though 

 not necessarily cruel, cannot bring the herd up to highest 

 possible capacity in milk-giving. It also makes it plain 

 why gentle milkers who are uniformly so when milking, 

 will get more milk from cows than those opposite in their 

 ways. 



The influence of habit on quantity in milk production 

 is shown in various ways. Among these are the following : 

 ( i ) In the tendency in the average cow that suckles her 

 calf to produce no more milk than the calf can utilize 

 when the feeding is not forced; (2) in the relatively short 

 period during which she provides food for her calf and this 

 period usually does not cover more than six to seven 

 months; (3) in the relatively large quantity of milk 

 produced by the average dairy cow properly cared for; 



(4) in the difficulty frequently found in drying off good 

 dairy cows to give them a period of rest before calving; 



(5) in the great increase in milk production that may be 

 obtained even from a cow possessed of what may be termed 

 the beef form, through patient, persistent milking from 

 year to year. The relation between the influence of habit 

 on quantity in milk production and inheritance is close. The 

 same may be said of the various influences that offset 

 quantity in milk production. In fact they are in a sense 



