THE PREPARTURIENT MILKING OF DAIRY ANIMALS
By ZAL R. KOTHAVALLA and A. J. LAZARUS, Imperial Dairy Reserarch Institute, Bangalore
(Received for publication on 22 January 1946)
T HE milking of a cow before calving under normal circumstances is generally resorted to only when
the animal is suffering from some udder trouble, particularly inflammation of the udder,
which commonly occurs in high yielders and first calvers. As a rule this practice is objected to on
mere sentimental grounds, as a measure counter to nature and because it is supposed to make calving
more difficult. Neither the merits nor the demerits of preparturient milking have so far been put
to a systematic test on a scientific basis.
Of recent years increasing attention has been given to this subject of premilking of cows. It
has been claimed by its advocates that the practice greatly enhances the milk yield of the animal and
also reduces the chances of subsequent udder troubles, such as often arise in heavy milkers. Espe
[1938] states that the massaging of the udder is quite a common practice to prevent the congestion
which frequently occurs at the time of parturition. Webber and Turner [1929] have studied the in-
fluence of milking pregnant animals before calving on their physical condition and the well-being
of the progeny. Though these authors state that premilking increases the yield of milk after parturi-
tion, they discourage the practice on account of its having adverse effects on the secretion of colos-
trum. The investigations carried out by Sayer [1934] with the pedigree Sahiwal herd at Pusa is
the only work done on the subject in India so far. This herd was established in 1904 and maintained
under normal dairy conditions. In course of time a considerable amount of udder trouble arose in
the herd, which seriously affected its performance. With view to remedying this evil the practice
of massaging the udder and milking the cows before calving was introduced in 1932; after calving
the animals were milked four times a day at equal intervals instead of only twice. Further, in the
case of heifers the bag was massaged from about two months before calving and the animals were
thoroughly accustomed to milking; when the milk flow started, all the milk was drawn out. After
calving, the same animals were milked from 7 to 15 times a day until they began to let down all the
milk. As a result of these trials a good many advantages have been claimed, the principal ones
being that the udder troubles altogether disappeared and the milk yield of the heifers and cows
increased on an average by about 47 per cent as compared with the pretreatment period.
Whatever be the claims made for the adoption of premilking, one outstanding disadvantage
of the practice persists and requires further investigation, namely that the calf dropped by the pre-
milked cow does not receive the valuable colostrum, but Sayer (loc. cit.) in this connection claims
that where the premilking of animals is adopted in a herd, the precalving colostrum would be given
to calves born to premilked dams but in case that is not available the calf should be given linseed
oil. By this method he asserts that mortality amongst calves was decreased from 4.3 to 1.4 per cent
within a year of the adoption of this practice. Dover and Siva Subramanian [1939] from an inten-
sive study of the chemical analysis of colostrum, have drawn attention to the fact that the colostrum
obtained from premilked animals is deficient in globulin and ash to a considerable degree and they
conclude from their other observations that the practice of premilking animals is a harmful one from
the point of view of rearing the newly born calf.
In view of these conflicting views it was considered that fresh evidence upon which the merits
of the practice of preparturient milking could be judged was necessary and the investigation which
is discussed below was undertaken.
EXPERIMENTAL
The investigation in question was carried out for two to three lactations on Sindhi cows and Sindhi,
Gir and cross-bred heifers maintained at the Imperial Dairy Research Institute, Bangalore.
Premilking of Cows. (i) Twelve Sindhi cows were taken for the experiment and an equal
number of animals were kept as controls. The animals in these two groups were nearly of the
same age, weight and stage of lactation at the start of the experiment. All the animals were healthy
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