MILKING HEIFERS

Waipa Post, Volume 38, Issue 2271, 21 February 1929, Page 6

MILKING HEIFERS

Young cows or heifers are sometimes difficult to milk at the outset. They may kick and otherwise resent handling. Others again, stand quietly as if they enjoyed being milked. It must be a relief when the udder is emptied. But the udder of a newly calved heifer is not often swollen and hard, and consequently painful when touched. It is the pain which causes the cow to kick and to manifest an unwillingness to be milked. Usually when the udder assumes its normal condition there is no further trouble with the milking. It is sometimes thought best to let the calf suck the cow for the first week or so, or until the udder "breaks," as it is called, but if the udder is regularly kneaded and rubbed with the hands the cow experiences relief in being milked, and she settles down quietly to the operation. Young cows are better to become accustomed to milking by different hands. This prevents trouble later on, for when a cow is habitually i milking by the same person she does not take kindly to a stranger. Of course, if a less efficient milker is occasionally pressed into service it is well that an expert should see that the stripping is well done.