The Portland daily press., 1881-01-18
AGRICULTURAL.
Cows Resisting Milking.

Cows are often troublesome on being
MIXED; and the kicks, knocks, and tall lat
guage which they receive for their restless
ness only render them the more fretful If
they cannot be overcome by kindness,
thumps and emphatic language will never
make them better. But the fact is, restless
habits were engendered in them by the treat
ment they received after their first calving,
when, most probably, they were dragooned
into submission. Udders and teats are very
tender Immediately after calving; and when
unfeeling horny hands tug the teats in strip
ping, as if they had been accustomed to the
operation for years, no wonder that the
young and inexperienced COW should vince
under the infliction, and attempt to get quit
of her tormenter by kicking. Can the crea-
ture be otherwise than uneasy, and how can
she escape the pain but by striking out a
heel? A rope is then placed on the hind fet-
locks, to keep the heels down. The tail is
then employed as an instrument of annoy
ance to the mixer, which is then held by
some one while the milking is going on, or is
tied to the creatures leg by the hair of the
tuft. Add to this the many threats and
scolds uttered by the mixer, and faint idea
of how young heiferiS broken in into milk
ing may be conceived.
Some COWS are naturally unaccommodat-
ing and provoking; but, nevertheless, moth
ing but gentleness toward them will ever
render them less so. Some cows are only
troublesome to milk for a few times after
calving, and soon become quiet; others kick
pertinaciously at the first milking. In the
last case, the surest plan is for the mixer,
while standing on his feet, to place his head
against the flank of the COW, stretch his hand
forward, get hold of the teats the best way
he can, and let the milk fall on the ground;
and in this position it is out of the power of
the COW to hurt him. Such ebullitions of
feeling, at the first milking after calving,
arise either from feeli G pain in tender
state of the teat-mOst probably from infam-
nation in the lining membrane of the recep-
tacle; or simply from Utilization of the udder
and teat, which becomes the more sensitive
as the heat increases; or the udder, being
still hard, gives pain when first touched
and should the udder be difficult to soften,
it is best to allow the calf to suck a: least
three times day until the udder becomes
soft. This will doubtless relieve the udder,
but it will cause another species of restless
ness in the COW when the calf is taken from
her. Still, rather let the mixer suffer some
inconvenience than the udder of the cow be
injured.
Be the cause of irritation what it may, one
thing is certain, that gentle and p rsevering
discipline will overcome the most turbulent
temper in COW. Milking affords different
degrees of pleasure to different cows. One
yields its milk with copious flow, with the
gentlest handling; another requires great
eXertion to draw the milk in streams no
larger than threads. The udder of the gen.
tie one will generally be found to have soft
skin, and short teats like velvet; while that
vf the heardened one, has thick skin, and
the teats long and tongh, like tanned leath-
er-Prairie Farmer