DRYING=OFF COWS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 June 1938, Page 3

DRYING=OFF COWS

DAIRY FARMERS’ PROBLEM. How to dry off a cow in full milk is a problem that often arises with the dairy farmer. The question has recently been under investigation by the University of Minnesota (U.S.A.), which studied the following methods, viz.:—lncomplete milking, intermittent milkings, and complete cessation of milking. Replies from 300 dairy farmers showed that 76 per cent adopted the intermittent plan, 16 per cent the complete cessation method, and 8 per cent the incomplete system. Experiments were then begun on different methods, including a study of the udder at the commerfcement of the next lactation period, and the rate of milk production.

The results were republished with the authority of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. The experimental method adopted was that of milking one half (left or right) of the udder by one method, and ceasing to milk the other half. This plan was based on the knowledge that the left and right halves of the udder are independent of each other. The results of the experiment, using 18 cows, show that complete cessation of milking can safely’be recommended as a method of drying off cows producing up to 201 b of milk daily, and that the dry-ing-off process will be accomplished more quickly than by the incomplete, or intermittent, milking. When milking is discontinued the udder will fill up until a pressure great enough to stop secretion is caused in the milk gland; after secretion is stopped the milk is gradually reabsorbed from the gland until it becomes dry. On this basis it is a mistake to milk out a cow during the resorption period, as this releases the pressure within the gland, secretion is again encouraged, and the drying-off period prolonged. No significant difference was noted in the quantity of milk either as a whole pr from the different halves of the udder, in the lactations following the drying-off of the cows by the three methods used. Further study of the subject indicates that drying-off by complete cessation of milking had no marked effect on the bacterial content of milk obtained in the subsequent lactation period.