247 
Xjm. W X Jl Uf X ’AT 
Mean Cows 
They Get That Way for the Same Reason Folks Do 
W HEIST X was a lad By E. 
at home, father 
used to have a cow that we always called 
the “mean cow.” It would have been 
hard to find a more fitting name for that 
co w. She was a positive devil. If there 
were any disagreeable tricks or habits that 
she did not have, then they were not 
known to cowdom. 
When the herd broke into the cornfield, 
we always knew that it was the “mean 
cow ” that led them. If a cow was missing 
in the back end of the pasture, some night 
when we were tired out from the long 
day’s work, the “ mean cow” could always 
be counted on to be the missing one. She 
was a hard milker, a vicious kicker and 
she had a nice loving little habit of wrap¬ 
ping a well-soaked tail none too gently 
around your eyes when you milked her. 
But still father kept her for years and 
there was a real reason. She gave more 
milk than any other cow in the herd. 
* * * 
Because every herd contains at least 
one mean cow, and because, like the one 
we had, she is very likely the best pro¬ 
ducer in the herd, I have lately been doing 
some thinking as to why the best cows are 
often the most disagreeable. I think I 
have at least a part of the answer. 
Whether it is man or beast, those indi¬ 
viduals most highly endowed with 
nervous energy are the most capable of 
great accomplishments ; and for exactly 
the same reason, whether they are man 
or beast, those same individuals that have 
this large stock of nervous energy are the 
most disagreeable to get along with. 
How many good folks and how many 
good cows naturally endowed with great 
ability have been ruined early in life by 
wrong handling! Looking back from my 
own experience as a dairyman, I now be¬ 
lieve that father’s “mean cow” was 
largely the result of the treatment she 
received in her early life. I do not be¬ 
lieve in petting a calf. Too much petting, 
either of young folks or young cows, 
makes nuisances of them. But on the 
other hand, had bur mean cow been 
treated with more patience and more 
gentleness, particularly in her first lacta¬ 
tion period, many of her mean habits 
would not have developed. 
There is no nonsense or sentimentality 
about the necessity of keeping excite¬ 
ment, loud talking, cruelty or abuse of any 
kind out of the daipy stable. One milker 
will be able to get 25 per cent, more milk 
than some other one. I have known 
men who could dry a good new milch cow 
up within a few months. 
All of us know 7 that changing milkers 
is poor practice, and every farmer knows 
that special care should be taken to secure 
all of the strippings. Milking machines 
are often wrongly blamed on this point. 
The machine itself works all right, but 
care should be taken to strip the cow 
afterwards. It is well to remember, also, 
that the last strippings are very high in 
butter fat. 
No doubt our mean cow first learned to 
kick during the early days of her first 
lactation period. Because she was natu¬ 
rally a big producer, her udder was full and 
painful. Her teats, unused to milking, 
were very tender. It was the time for 
patience and gentleness, which she 
probably did not receive and which, be¬ 
cause she did not, made her a kicker for 
life. Even her leading the herd into the 
cornfield was the result of her being an 
unusual individual. She was a leader, a 
big producer, rising far above the average, 
and always reaching out for “new 7 fields 
to conquer.” 
I do not remember that this cow had 
chapped teats, or warts on the teats; but I 
do know 7 from experience with my own 
cows since, that sore teats make a lot of 
kicking cows and that most of it can be 
prevented by a little care. Chapped teats 
are caused fyy cold w eather, milking with 
wet hands, or some other irritating cause. 
There are a lot of good dairymen who 
£. ROE still insist that the way 
to milk is to first wet 
your hands by milking on them. Per¬ 
sonally, I think this is a most abom¬ 
inable habit from a sanitary stand¬ 
point, and I never could see that it helped 
any in making the milking easier. 
A good big bottle of vaseline is better 
than anything I have ever found for 
either chapped teats or w'arts on teats. 
If the trouble persists, thoroughly wash 
the teats a few times with warm water and 
then apply a little glycerite of tannin. 
W 7 hich may be obtained at any drug store. 
This will help a lot. If the warts are large, 
take a pair of sharp shears, clip them off 
and apply a little potash caustic. 
I HAVE CONCLUDED THAT 
THERE IS NOT MUCH HOPE 
FOR A CONFIRMED KICKER, 
EITHER MAN OR BEAST. Society 
is such that we do not have the privilege 
of pounding a man kicker, but w 7 e often do 
take it out on the cow. I know, from my 
ow r n experience, that this is a perfectly 
natural thing to do, but from a practical 
dairying standpoint, it is mighty poor 
business. No one ever knew 7 a kicking 
cow to be cured yet by pounding. It 
lessens her flow of milk and excites the 
other cow 7 s. The only remedy for kick¬ 
ing that I have ever found is securely 
strapping the legs. 
If a hard milking cow is a good pro¬ 
ducer, it may be worth while to take some 
little pains to relax the muscle in the end 
of the teat so that she will milk a little 
easier. Vaseline will help a little. Some 
milkers use teat plugs made of rubber or 
lead, in such a way as to make the open¬ 
ing a little larger. I have tried them 
some, but soon got disgusted with the 
extra labor. They have to be thoroughly 
sterilized, then put in the teats after 
milking and allowed to remain from one 
milking to the other. Following this 
practice for a few weeks sometimes will do 
a lot in helping the cow to milk easier. 
Otsego County, N. Y., Guernsey 
Cow a Champion 
H. BUCKLEY of Oneonta, New 
• York, the owner of Cathedral 
Farms, is also the proud owner of a new 
Guernsey Class Leader cow. The cow is 
Kate of Farview 82754 and her excellent 
record in class B consisting of 19,227.8 
pounds of milk and 905.65 pounds of 
butter fat gives her fourth place in that 
class. 
On October 16, 1922, Kate of Farview 
82754 dropped a fine bull calf shed by 
Saugerties Cathedral King 62534. She 
started her test on October 21, at the age 
Kate of Farview 
of four years, ten months and eleven days 
and she reached her maximum flow of 
milk, w'hieh w r as 60.5 pounds, in six w 7 eeks. 
Her persistency as a milker is demon¬ 
strated by the fact that she maintained a 
milk production of over fifty pounds daily 
for the first ten months of her record. 
During July, which was her ninth month, 
she averaged fifty-seven pounds of milk 
per day and she finished her year still 
producing 40.9 poimds of milk. 
She was bred on April 8, 1923, to Lang- 
water Sybarite’s Caesar 81037 and has 
therefore carried her present calf for 
195 days. 
Kate of Farview 82754 is a large cow 7 
and her weight at the completion of her 
0 Confirmed on page 260) 
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