24 



ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



to read, "The eye of the master feeder fills the milk pail." He 

 is in touch with the herd at all times, knows all its needs and just 

 how to supply them. 



The importance of the milking hour should by no means be 

 overlooked. There should be a regular stated hour for milking 

 and failure to milk at this hour should not be permitted. The 

 morning and evening hour of milking should be the same. Fail- 

 ure to observe this rule is a very common error and one that is 

 very detrimental to the cow. 



On many farms during the summer months the milking is 

 done at four o'clock in the morning and at seven o'clock at 

 night, while during the winter months, it is done at seven o'clock 

 in the morning and at four o'clock at night. Such a system is 

 all wrong. At one milking you get a great quantity of milk, and 

 the next you get a very small amount. Fifteen hours between 

 is entirely too long for a dairy cow of any worth to go without 

 being relieved. The udder is apt to become too feverish and 

 caked, and the milk to be stringy. 



Everything should be reasonably quiet during the milking 

 liour; talking should be avoided, and someone has suggested 

 that cats, dogs and strangers should be excluded at least during 

 this hour. 



Cows should be milked in the same rotation and invariably 

 by the same milker. It is especially important that a cow be 

 milked by the same person, and a change should be made only 

 when absolutely necessary. No two persons milk exactly in 

 the same manner, and a cow w^ill recognize a stranger even be- 

 fore he begins the actual process of milking. Not only this, 

 there is a particular way in which every cow can be milked to 

 the best advantage. With some you must begin very cautiously 

 and gradually increase the speed and pressure. Others you can 

 milk as fast as you wish from the very start. With some, on 

 account of the shape of the udder, it will be found necessary to 

 milk certain teats together; with others it will make no differ- 

 ence. These and other things the new milker must learn before 

 he can properly milk the herd. 



