By Umar Nsubuga
Hellen Nanono, a resident of Kanyanya was given a female cow and she noticed that each time her cow was disturbed while being milked, it produced less milk.
“I have put in much yet the cow is giving me less,” she wonders.
Muhammad Kiyemba, a veterinary doctor says Nanono needs to know what happens to milk before it gets out of the teat.
“In the morning you milk a cow until the udder becomes empty, but tiny glands continue making more milk throughout the day, and slowly but constantly secrete it into a storage space in the udder. That’s why several hours after milking you find the udder full again,” says Kiyemba.
When a calf suckles, or when you wash the udders, the teats get tickled.
He says this causes the milk passages to open up and allow the free flow of milk for about eight minutes.
According to Kiyemba, you don’t have to squeeze hard to get the milk out, as long as the cow is not disturbed. But you also need to know that like human beings, cows feel pain when harmed.
He says cows also get angry or frightened, and they get irritated if anything nags them.
“When you harm, upset, frighten or offend a cow, you cause a chain of reactions in its blood,” he explains.
Kiyemba says this causes some of the milk passages in the udder to close or become narrow. Then you won’t get much milk out of the cow.
This can be a result of beating or sudden movements, noise, uncomfortable position or biting flies.
“Milk cows in a comfortable, familiar place, and be gentle and you will have no reason to get less milk,” he says.
