TREATMENT OF DAIRY COWS.

New Zealand Mail, 21 July 1892, Page 7

TREATMENT OF DAIRY COWS.

Every dairy farmer should make a special point of not only treat ing his cows with kindness himself, but insisting upon the hands ho employs doing likewise,writes the Melbourne Leader. No animal is naturally more docile or will respond more readily to kindness than a cow and no dumb creature is deserving of more kindness and consideration. and yet a very frequent occurrence is that she is cruelly illtreated because she happens to be restless when annoyed by flies or when her sore teats are squeezed by none too gentle hands. It is a cruel thing to punish a cow for doing what is only natural when she is subject to pain, and the man who remonstrates with her through the medium of a threelegged stool or the iron tipped toe of a boot should be discharged on the spot We have seen a yard full of cows, each of which knew her own name, would answer to it, and come to the |bail to be milked when called. This was the result of kindness and theauimals showed their appreciation of the treatment to which they were subjected by their behaviour. Oil the other hand, when beaten or otherwise harshly treated, cows become wild and very frequently refuse to give down their milk at milking time, the reeulfc being that they go out of the yard with their udders stocked instead of empty. This is direct loss of so much milk to the owner, but the mischief by no means stops at that. Owing to having to carry the extra quantity of milk till the next milking the cow’s udder frequently becomes inflamed, she suffers great pain, the secretion of milk falls off very considerably, and it is not unusual for one or more teat to become ‘ blind.’ Harsh treatment, therefore, results in permanent injury as well as present loss, and special care should be always exercised to protect the cows and prevent bad-tem-pered milkmen indulging their propensity to use violence on the slightest provocation. Unfortunately owners themselves are as frequently to blame as men, but in such cases it is consoling to know that they suffer in a pecuniary sense. Kicking a milking cow is tantamount to taking money out of the owner’s pocket. It is a form of robbery with violence, and should be made punishable by law.