MILKING 167 



pounds of seed to the acre and put in as early as the season will 

 permit. This will be ready to feed in seventy-five to ninety 

 days after planting. If possible, the field of corn to be fed out, 

 should be located close beside the pasture or even enclosed within 

 the pasture. This nearness is for the sake of ease and economy 

 of labor in feeding. A few minutes with a hand corn knife 

 will suffice to cut and throw over the fence as much as the 

 animals will readily consume. If the supplementary corn field 

 is located by the pasture and is made long and narrow the 

 expense of feeding will have been reduced to the minimum and 

 it will be found to be a wonderfully well paying investment. 



Milking. — The cow is a creature of habit. To return the 

 maximum of milk for the feed consumed she should be milked 

 at regular intervals, and preferably, by the same individual.*^ In 

 some institutional or other large herds where the milking force 

 is continually changing in personnel, thus necessitating frequent 

 change of milkers, it is found preferable to shift the milkers 

 continually in order to prevent any cow from becoming attached 

 to any one milker. Thus the operation of milking becomes an 

 impersonal matter. It is more likely, too, that the damage done 

 by an individual poor milker will be partially rectified by the 

 following good milker. 



In beginning the milking act care should always be taken 

 to start the process slowly. Sharp pains unquestionably pierce 

 the cow's udder just as the milk starts. The first few streams 

 should be taken slowly and gently, especially in cold weather. 

 Many a quarrel between cow and man might have been averted if 

 consideration had been shown at this point. 



Methods of Milking — A few years ago the Danish or the 

 Heglund manipulation method of milking was quite widely dis- 

 cussed and was tested by the Wisconsin Station. In brief, the 

 result showed that following a slow or weak-handed milker the 

 Danish system of manipulation or massage would materially 

 increase the amount of milk yielded, but when it followed a 

 strong, active milker, little, if any, benefit was derived. 



The Heglund system was devised very largely to interest 

 people in general, but farm and village girls in particular, in 



