With a third of the tail remaining, the stub is still adequate to hold onto when restraining a cow. Also, the tail is easily moved aside during insemination with less chance of contamination. General attitude of producers toward docking tails is slowly changing. As more people work with cows with docked tails, their acceptance grows. In fact, producer attitude is a big advantage of docking tails.
Milkers stay calmer because they are less likely to be hit in the face with a wet, dirty, tail.
And because the milkers are calmer, the cows stay quieter. An argument against docking tails is the belief that cows need their tails to switch at flies. Face and heel flies are the most common cause of fly problems. Tails swishing at these flies does little good. In fact, recent research is showing that tailless cows have less manure sprayed across their back, thus are bothered less by flies.