CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF DAIRY CATTLE 261 



There are now machines on the market that will milk cows. 

 There are, however, many questions relative to their use that 

 cannot be answered with much positiveness; chief of which are 

 the efficiency with which they milk, the effect on the cow, the 

 effect on the milk, and their economy. 



It is well known that one milker may secure more milk than 

 others from the same cow, and that after a cow has become 

 accustomed to a milker, a change results in a decrease in the 

 production. It may be expected, therefore, that the immediate 

 effect of changing from hand to machine milking will be at- 

 tended by the same results. The question as to the practicability 

 of machine milking is, therefore, whether or not cows can be 

 milked satisfactorily by this method for an extended period of 

 time. Furthermore there comes the question of the effect upon 

 succeeding generations, whether the machine milking will have 

 a tendency to discourage the transmission of milking qualities. 

 The milking machine is of so recent invention that there are 

 not data enough at hand to answer these questions. The data 

 available go to show that by taking the year through, the 

 average cow yields approximately as much milk to the machine 

 method as to the hand method of milking, particularly if she is 

 stripped by hand after the machine milking. 



Mechanically, the machine seems to do its work efficiently. 

 There are, however, certain difficulties encountered which hin- 

 der the working of the machine and over which it can have 

 no control. Chief among these are the shape, size, and other 

 peculiarities of the cow's udder and teats. The quahty of 

 the udder as regards fleshiness or flabbiness and unevenness 

 of the quarters, teats abnormally small, warty, those that milk 

 down, and those that are very close together, are likely to give 

 much difficulty. 



The effect of the machine on the milk, particularly the 

 bacteria content, depends much on the manipulation of the 

 apparatus while in operation as well as its care between the milk- 



