THRICE A DAY MILKING

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 14 January 1931, Page 3

THRICE A DAY MILKING

AN AMERICAN INVESTIGATION

Recent results reported by the United States Department of Agriculture, based on experimental work at Beltsville, Maryland, would seem to establish three times a day milking as a decidedly profitable proposition. At this station eight cows were milked twice a day for a complete lactation period, and ten cows were milked three times a day for the whole period. The cows that were milked three times daily gave 21.2 per cent, more milk and 22.4 per cent, more butter-fat than did those milked twice daily. This is in line with the experience of Danish farmers, who very frequently milk the whole herd thre times daily, and with that of men running in record of performance, who estimate that three milkings daily increase production from 15 to 25 per cent. One Ontario dairy farmer made a practice for years of milking three times daily and said it was good business. His third milking was at midnight. A drawback was that the calves and pigs had to be fed at the same time, when the milk was warm. The latter will look altogether too much like drudgery. There is not much chance of thrice a day milking ever becoming the practice in New Zealand with commercial herds, even with butter at double its present level. The midnight call, entailing as it would two shifts on the farm, would offset any apparent monetary benefit.