Milking Research Paper

Words: 996
Pages: 4

Have you ever tried to milk a cow manually? Well, I have and my experience was not all that enjoyable. I recently traveled to the mountains of Virginia, where I stayed at a house that had farm animals you could ask to take care of during your stay. Since I love animals, I had to say “Yes!” when the owner offered for me to help with the farm chores early the next morning. One of the tasks was to milk the Jersey cow named, Star. I thought, “This won’t be difficult! All you do is pull on the udder and milk comes out.” Boy was I wrong. Star did not like my cold hands on her warm udder, and she kicked at me. I took a step back, calmed my nerves, and started again. This time she was better. About mid-way through, I apparently did something …show more content…
According to a study done by the Michigan Dairy Review of cow’s adaptation to the milking of the robot, the cow at first started to kick and vocalize her opinion, but after 24 hours the different symptoms had nearly disappeared. These behavioral changes could both be attributed to the cows becoming more comfortable with the new milking environment or because the cows had started to focus on eating the grain they are given while being milked. The Michigan Dairy review also conducted a study on the hooves and locomotion of the cattle and they discovered that many of the hoof problems increased, with the most common, in both the old and new barns, being the Hairy Heel Warts. The good part is that the animal’s locomotion increased overall, and that they were becoming more communicative. The last study showed the behavioral changes in the animals when being moved from the old to the new barn and was not as expected. The animals were standing up more in the newer barn rather in the old. The spectators said that it was most likely because of the temperature changes during the switch or the cows still getting used to the patterns of the new