40 Milk and Its Products 



preciably more milk from a cow, or lot of cows, in 

 the course of a season than an unskilful one. The 

 milk should be drawn from the cow as rapidly, as 

 quietly, and as easily as possible. It goes without 

 saying that it should also be completely removed. 

 Downward stroking manipulations of the udder are 

 of some use in removing the very last portions, but 

 the method advocated by Hegelund* for this purpose 

 some years ago has not been generally adopted. 

 Regularity in the time of milking is also an impor- 

 tant factor in securing large amounts, more particu- 

 larly in keeping up the milk flow, and preventing 

 rapid drying off toward the close of lactation. The 

 interval between milkings also affects the amount pro- 

 duced. Up to a certain limit the amount of milk 

 produced will be increased by shortening the milking 

 period, and it is by no means infrequent to milk cows 

 three or four times daily, at intervals of eight or six 

 hours, and practically all large records of production 

 are made under such treatment. When the interval 

 is shortened to less than six hours, the disturbance 

 to the animal checks ttye milk flow quite as much as 

 the increased frequency of removal tends to increase 

 it, and no advantage has as yet been gained by 

 milking cows oftener than four times a day. It is 

 difficult to make an exact standard with respect to 

 the relation between frequency of milking and amount 

 of milk secured, but it may be said in general that the 

 amount of milk will be increased if the cow is milked 

 as often as her udder becomes moderately distended. 



*Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin No. 213. 



