Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1903-01-01
The Thorough Milking Of Cows.

The importance OF thoroughly and
efectually milking cows 80 as to re-
move every drop of milk from the I'D
der during the milking process is fire..
quently overlooked or not fully under
stood. Omission to do this not only
very obviously causes a reduction in
the quantity of milk obtained, but
what is not so generally recognized.
It results in the production of milk OF
poorer quality than would be the
case II the udder were thoroughly
stripped and relieved of its last drop
of milk. The result Of numerous
milking experiments in regard to this
question are available to show that
the milk, as taken from the COW, is
not of an average composition-that
Is to say, that the first drawn milk is
abnormally poor in fat content;
whilst the quality Of the milk i'm
proves as the process Of milking con-
tinues, the last drawn milk being
richest in butter fat, containing o
much higher percentage than q sam
pie of normal milk. Whereas tho
first drawn milk may have as low Q
fat percentage as IL or Is, the last
pint withdrawn from the COW may
fat.
It is evident from this that unless
the strippings up to the last drop are
included in the milk, the latter will
contain less butter fat than it should
do, if the milking operations were sat.
isfactorily carried out. To the dairy
farmer who produces butter, this
means a decreased butter yield, but
this point is also of great Importance
to milk dealers. Although in average
dairy herds in this country the mixed
milk of the whole herd comes up to q
fair Standard, yet the thorough milk.
ing of the cows so as to include the
last drop in the udder is a safeguard
to some extent against the quality OF
the milk falling below standard re-
| quirements.
Apart from the reduction of the
yield and the quality of the milk by
incompletely milking the cows. this
slovenly practice in the case of heif
ers and young cows, whose milk Sc
erection has as yet not reached Its
maximum limit, involves Diet riora
ton of their milk yielding qualities
or at any rate prevents full develop
ment of the latter in succeeding lac
tation periods. Although the milk
yielding capacity is primarily an in
herited quality. yet to some extent II
depends on other factors, one O.
which is the stimulation of the I'd
der by means of the milking process
The greater the stimulation is, the
more benefcially will the develop
ment of the milk organs be intlu
enced. Hence thorough and complete
milking of heifers and young cows j:
especially to be desired as tending tt
improve their mild-yielding qualities
whilst if the milking process is car
| ried out in careless and perfunctory
manner, the opposite effect results il
that it deteriorates the milk-yieldine
qualities to q certain extent. This
question receives great deal of at
tention by some of the. dairymen il
different countries. / have known O.
some instances where the operation
of milking was continued in the case
of heifers and young cows, especially
the former, in their first lactatior
period for some time after all the
milk has been drawn, solely with the
view of stimulating the udder. With
view of developing the milking quail
tiles and to increase the milk yielt
in future lactation periods, it is
further desirable to prolong the first
few lactation period of young COW
as much as possible, within reason
able limits, of course, and not to al
low them to dry off too soon, as this
has an adverse effect on the guam
tity of the future milk yields in sue
ceeding lactation periods. This ap
plies only to dairy cattle of course
Hoard's Dairyman.
Warm Water for Cows.
The Germans have been trying the
effect of warm water on milk produc'
ton. They found that while the cows
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