What Happens If a Cow Is Not Milked?

Good management practices on a dairy farm include milking the cattle on a regular schedule, two to three times a day. Failure to properly milk a dairy cow every day can negatively impact the health of the animal, as well as decrease its milk production. Failure to milk a cow out completely also has adverse affects.

  1. Initial Symptoms

    • A cow will be immediately impacted after not being milked for one milking. Her udder will swell up and become hard. A cow that is more "fresh," meaning that she has calved more recently, will be even more affected, since she is producing more milk than a "stale" cow, or one that is towards the end of her lactation. The udder may also become red and hot, and cause discomfort for the animal.

    Mastitis

    • The longer a dairy cow goes without milking the greater probability that she will contract mastitis. Mastitis is an infection in the udder that occurs in two forms: clinical mastitis and subclinical mastitis. Clinical mastitis is characterized by hard udder quarters, udder edema and flakes or clots in the milk. Subclinical mastitis has no visible symptoms and requires a California Mastitis Test, or CMT, to detect it. In either case, the cow requires antibiotics and her milk must be withheld from the bulk tank until both the mastitis and antibiotic residue has left her udder.

    Decreased Milk Production

    • Cows thrive on routine. Not milking a cow will reduce her overall milk production, as it breaks her routine and encourages her body to make less milk. The impact will be greater the more recently fresh the cow is. A cow towards the end of her lactation that is milking less will be less affected. The longer a cow goes without milking, the greater the impact as well. She will eventually become dry, or stop milking.

    Best Management Practices

    • Dairy farmers try to carry out best management practices, or BMPs. These are techniques that promote the greatest profitability on the farm and the most cow comfort. As part of this philosophy, cows must be milked two to three times a day on a regular schedule. Not milking cows is not only irresponsible to their health, but will decreases the overall effectiveness of the farming operation. As a result, farmers and their hired help take great care to ensure every cow is milked regularly.