If a cow is suddenly disturbed, so as to get excited, or gets tired
and out of patience, the flow of milk may be prematurely stopped. If
this disturbance is continued from time to time, the effect will be
to permanently lessen the flow, or "dry up" the cow. Anything that
irritates a cow, while being milked, reduces both quality and quantity.
Hence, milking should be done in a quiet and orderly manner. Treat the
cow very kindly and gently, so as to gain her confidence, and be as
careful as possible not to hurt her teats by unnecessarily tearing open
any cracks there may be, or pinching any warts, and be sure to not dig
your finger-nails into the teats.
REGULARITY.
It is a good plan to milk cows regularly in the same order, taking the
same one first, and winding up with the same one every time. Regularity
of hour in commencing the milking of the herd is an advantage, in
securing the best results, since animals as well as men are greatly the
creatures of habit, and when the time comes around the cow will desire
to be milked and all the functions of her system will concur in this
desire.
KEEP DOWN THE FOUL ODORS.
The milking should be done in a sweet, clean place--either a stable
kept scrupulously clean, and plaster or other deoderizer freely used,
or in a row of stanchions in an open shed, with barely a roof to keep
off storm and sunshine, and no filthy deposits allowed to accumulate
around it. The milk, as fast as drawn, should be removed from the
place of milking, lest it absorb odors from the droppings, the breath,
or the exhalations from the cow's body--or even from the sweat and
grime of the person and clothes of the milker--for milk is extremely
sensitive to these influences. It is much more so than is popularly
supposed, and should be put in a sweet atmosphere as soon as possible
when drawn. Fine fancy goods, with the most delicious and delicate
flavor, cannot be made from milk that has been exposed to the influence
of a foul atmosphere.
KEEP OUT THE DIRT.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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