GOOD MILKING STIMULATES PRODUCTION

Shannon News, 10 December 1926, Page 3

GOOD MILKING STIMULATES PRODUCTION

.:_ _* ■— VALUE OP THOROUGH STRIPPING. 1 Quick and clean milking and a foaming, pail of milk are unmistakable signs of a good 1 and expert milker and a good cow to' milk, continues the authority. While milking should always be done quickly, consistent with clean stripping, there should be no hustle «or excitement likely to distract the attention of the cows. Cows will not yield their best if they are excited, and disturbed, or roughly handled. The milker must go about his work quietly, calmly, methodically taking the same cows in the same order. The first part of the milking should naturally be fast, but when the udder has been almost emptied and the stripping begins, more time has to be devoted to the task. Clean stripping is an important point. The milk last drawn is the richest, and it therefore improves the quality of the whole milking if the last drop is taken. If the,udder.is not quite emptied and the stripping, is but incompletely done, the sample of milk will be poorer than when a more careful milker is at work. If stripping is neglected, the cow will rapidly fall off in her yield. Therefore it can De seen that a careless milker loses money every time. It is no good boasting about doing ten cows an hour if they are not stripped properly. The milker who thoroughly well does his work at much less speed will invariably get his cows to score better at the pail. Feeding is another important point. Heavy milking cows must feed well, and they must also drink much water. The drier the foods, the more water the cow will drink: The, question of dry meals versus succulent roots and greeri herbage does not here arise, but it stands to reasdn that the cow's food must be of a kind easy of digestion, full of nourishment an£ part at least of it of a. Juicy character. A certain amount of dry and coarse fodder is necessary to give bulk to the food and to prevent all over-looseness of the bowels. All foods should be fed clean and fresh. Cows grazed on wet grass are apt to suffer from indigestion. .