70 DAIRY FARMING 



a change in the method of stimulation will result in 

 a reduction of milk and butterfat production. The wise 

 dairyman will therefore avoid changing milkers as far 

 as possible, and will insist that the same milker always 

 milk the same cows. 



Fast Versus Slow Milking. The larger yields are 

 secured from fast milking. This may possibly be ex- 

 plained upon the basis of udder stimulation. The fast 

 milker will stimulate the udder to a greater degree than 

 the slow milker, and the extra stimulus thus given evi- 

 dently favors the secretion in the milk glands, as indicated 

 by the actual increased production. 



Importance of Withdrawing All the Milk. One 

 of the most important factors in milking is securing all 

 the milk at each milking; that is, milking a cow dry. 

 Whatever milk is left in the udder from one milking 

 to another is not only lost to the milker, but actually 

 acts as a check upon further secretion, so that the 

 habitual practice of not milking cows "clean" or "dry" 

 results in a gradual shrinking of the milk flow and an 

 early "drying up" of the cow. Furthermore, the loss 

 of the strippings means the loss of the very best milk. 

 The first milk drawn from a cow usually contains less 

 than i% fat, while the strippings may contain as much 

 as 14%. 



Regularity of Milking and Feeding. The man who 

 is looking for satisfactory returns from his dairy must 

 make regularity a watchword. Cows must be milked reg- 

 ularly at a fixed time morning and night. Milking 

 half an hour sooner or later than the fixed time interferes 

 much more seriously with the milk yield than is com- 

 monly supposed. Not only does irregularity of milking 

 reduce the yield of milk and butterfat, but irregularity in 



