Opinions on what made the first person milk a cow?

Question

Opinions on what made the first person milk a cow?

Answer 1

no idea - but what on earth did he think he was doing at the time?

seriously - he clearly saw calves suckling the mothers, equated it with babies suckling at the breast - made the connection and thought hey why can't we drink milk from a cow/sheep/goat

Answer 2

Pull the udder one , said the cow to the milkmaid.

Answer 3

he probably seen the cow leaking and in pain because its a sore thing and milked it lol eww sounds disgusting

Answer 4

Well the first animals milked were sheep and goats - domesticated long before cattle, so the question should really be who thought of milking them. Archaeological records (paintings pottery etc,) suggest that domestication started with the keeping of young animals as pets. Some were relatively easy to domesticate and stayed where they were brought up. Over time, breeding herds were established and people just made use of every bit of the animal they could - including milk.

Even once cattle were domesticated they were used as draught animals long before they were farmed for meat and milk.

Humans tried to domesticate lots of animals but most were failures as they remained wild for various reasons - these included fallow deer, gazelles and onagers.

Sheep goats and cattle were all domesticated in a region found in modern day Iran and Turkey - they still use much more sheep and goat dairy products than those from cattle - old habits die hard.

Answer 5

Humans are adept at extracting edible/drinkable substances from anywhere possible, it's a survival trait. Milking cows originated in the Middle East, where people were nomadic and living in harsh conditions. They must've figured out that keeping a cow for its milk is a far more efficient way of providing sustenance for themselves than to slaughter it for meat.

Answer 6

Milked a goat or camel so why not the cow?

The first encounter with milk would have been when somebody killed an animal for food. During butchering, they found the milk. They know what milk is because Big Mamma was been feeding them and the kids for years. After they domesticated the cow/goat/yak/camel they wanted the milk for food or for their young that needed more than Big Mamma could provide. Early man was not squeemish. He took his food where he found it.