168 DAIRY HERD MANAGEMENT 



taking interest and pride in milking. It served that purpose 

 well, but also demonstrated to all the need of massage of the 

 mammary glands if greatest activity and yield were to be ob- 

 tained. Ample stimulation seems to be furnished, however, 

 by ordinary rapid, strong-handed milking, followed by a mod- 

 erate amount of drawing down of the teat and stripping out of 

 the udder. When once the milk flow has been well started, strong- 

 handed, rapid milking is preferable, as such will obtain more 

 milk at each milking and will keep the cow in milk for a longer 

 period of months. 



Stripping for some time after the major portion of the milk 

 has been drawn is in part a habit on the part of the cow and the 

 milker. This may be largely avoided if the milker will but 

 draw down firmly on the teat with one hand while gently but 

 firmly squeezing and rubbing downward on the udder with the 

 other. Stripping, as commonly understood, that is, the slipping 

 of the teat between the thumb and finger to finish getting all 

 the milk should not be practiced. The milk can all be drawn 

 with less pain to the cow by finishing with the full hand or with 

 thumb and two fingers. 



The first and last milk drawn from a cow differ very ma- 

 terially in fat content, The first is thin, almost watery. The 

 fat in such frequently is only one quarter as great in amount as 

 in the last drawn or the strippings. The amount of difference 

 between first and last depends largely upon how much milk 

 the cow is giving at that particular time. If fresh in milk so 

 that the udder is fully distended, in fact turgid, the first milk 

 drawn may test as low as one-half of one per cent fat, while the 

 stripping test is as high as 9 per cent fat, the last being eighteen 

 times as rich as the first. But with a cow giving only five to 

 ten pounds at a milking, the first may test 2 or 3 per cent and 

 the last 6 or 7 per cent, with an average of 4 per cent for the 

 whole mei s. This emphasizes the necessity of milking the cow 

 dry and mixing the milk well before taking a sample for testing, 

 also the fact that if the cow is not milked out clean each time 

 the richest part of the milk is the part lost. Incomplete milking 



