A MILKING TROUBLE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1701, 18 March 1913, Page 8

A MILKING TROUBLE.

HOLDING BACK THE .MILK. Cows will sometimes refuse their milk to strangers, and a rough milker will often upset a herd, says Oat'ely Bridge, in "Farm and Home." The remedy in these cases, he says, is to get rid of the offending milker, for among dairy cows gentleness and kindness should always rule. If a cow evinces a dislike for ouo milker or a preference for another! it is best to humour her, and hand, her over to the care of the favoured individual entirely. A common remedy is to attempt to distract the attention of the cow from her milking by providing some tempting food. The question of feeding at milking time is a debatable one, and we are familiar with the arguments against it, but nothing makes cows so much at home in'the milk-ing-shed or brings them homo to it so cheerfully as what the Yorkshire man calls a "bit a' licking." As a general rule, the relationship between cow and milker is good in dairies where feeding at milking time -is an institution. In some cases with a strange cow patience wins, and if the milker sticks to his stool and keeps rubbing the udder, and strolling the teats, he. will tire out the most wilful of cows. In other cases it seems a better plan to leave the cow for a time, and return to her half an hour later. In extreme cases it may bo found more effective to refrain from milking until the distension begins to cause inconvenience, but there are drawbacks to this, and carried too far there may bo a case of garget or a bad quarter. Putting a. weight over the loins is a favourite remedy with some, and we'have seen heavy chains and bags of sand, earth, or wet brewers' grains employed in this way. The idea is that the weight on the loins has an effect on the ability of the cow to control the vbluntary muscles of the udder, which, under normal conditions, she can, but such measures are calculated to upset a nervous cow, and can never conduce to a big yield of milk. Teat tubes or milk syphons effectually negative the cow's efforts at retention, but these are no more to be recommended, unless as a last resource, than weighting the, loins. The udder is not simply a reservoir for storing milk which can be emptied by overcoming tho resistance of the sphincter. Secretion goes on while milking is in progress, and is favoured by the gentle stimulus of the calf's tongue and palate or tho hand of the milker. Moreover, this is the richest milk. Kindness, patience, and perseverance are the most rational as they are the most succesful means to overcome a disposition to "hold"' the milk. The high-class work put into the "Victor" Vat secures for it the reputation. of being the best on the market, and when you consider tho excellent draining system perfected by the sloping bottom, the "Victor" is indeed superior to any other. Every Dairy Factory Manage,r should instal the' "Victor" in his factory and be assured of better results, and bigger profits.' Full particulars of this (Factory. Economist obtainable from Albert J. Parton, Plumber, Carterton.—Advt.