ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 
but he was always good with the cows— always kind. 
next man was always yelling at the cows, and he always 
had trouble. He soon had a number of kicking cows. 
The cows fell off in their milk. These two facts keep in 
nund: Keep the cows quiet and keep them clean. A cow 
should never be milked until every thing is brushed off the 
udder, and there should be no talking. He had had men 
who would sing a nice little song when they were milking. 
It was necessary to keep the animals quiet when you milk. 
It always affects the milk to make a noise. Remember 
when you milk, that this question came up at the convcn- 
tion. 
57 
His 
McLean : Would like to ask if any of them ever 
hired a man who could sing. Said he had had cows that 
could kick a man into the middle of next week, and he had 
an Irish girl working for him at that time who would sing 
those old Irish ditties, and could milk the cows he dare not 
touch. Had a son who belonged to what they called a quar¬ 
tette, he believed, and who was getting to be quite a singer. 
He always sung while milking, and could get more milk 
from the cows than his father could, every time. His 
advice was to hire singers for milkers. 
Geo. Sands : Had a fine cow once that would come 
up regularly every milking time to be milked; was as gen¬ 
tle as a lamb. He built a cow barn and got this cow in the 
first time to milk her, and found, to his sorrow, that she 
had what was termed back-action. He told his boys that 
they might experiment with her and see if they could break 
her of kicking, by force; but they made a failure of it. 
This was one of the best cows he ever had. He was in for 
kind usage. 
Patten . Believed in what they called animal mag- 
