DISEASES OF COWS. 471 



Holding up the milk occurs chiefly when the cow is fresh. 

 A cow that has been used to suckle her calf will natur- 

 ally prefer that way of being milked. It is most frequent 

 with cows that are so habituated, and for this reason it is 

 rare among those cows whose calves are not permitted to 

 suck them. It is a fault more easily prevented than 

 cured, and at the same time one that is very trouble- 

 some and mischievous in its results. A fresh cow that 

 holds up her milk nearly always provokes thereby an 

 attack of garget and future loss of milk all through the 

 season, so that the dairyman or owner of a family cow 

 should be on the watch to avert the trouble. When the 

 calf is habitually taken from the cow before it has had 

 time to suck, the cow will come to her milk naturally 

 and without resistance, and this practice cannot be too 

 strongly recommended as a constant rule in the dairy. 

 When, however, the trouble has occurred and a remedy 

 is sought, we find how powerless we are to strive with 

 the natural instincts of an animal excited to stubborn 

 resistance. Many devices have been tried and recom- 

 mended to overcome this vicious propensity, but none of 

 them is of much value. One of these is to hang a heavy 

 chain across the loins ; another is to press upon the loins 

 forcibly with the hands while efforts are being made to 

 draw the milk. Others are to give some feed at milking 

 time, or to distract in some way the attention of the cow 

 from her supposed grievance. Soothing measures and 

 perseverance, or the use of milking tubes, are the only 

 effective remedies. To give some feed or salt, and to 

 sit down and rub the udder and manipulate the teats as 

 in milking^ and to persevere with gentleness, is often 

 effective ; but the only successful method of getting the 

 milk i^ by the use of milking tubes (more particularly 

 described elsewhere), by which the milk flows by force of 

 gravity in spite of any unwillingness of the cow. The 

 tubes are inserted gently into the teats and the milk runs 



