Radcliffe, Bailey & Home (1973) and Nielsen & Sorensen (1970) found that missing 1 milking/week had little effect on the lactational jdeld of cows, but when the milking interval was increased to omit 2 consecutive milkings/week, milk yield was reduced by 14 % (Radcliffe et al. 1973). Parker (1965) observed that once-daily milking (24-h milking intervals) when applied towards the end of lactation, reduced milk production by 35 % which amounted to an overall lactational loss of only 12 %. Wheelock et al. (1966) found that the relationship between milk secretion rate and milking interval was curvilinear and that the decline in milk secretion rate was small for increases in milking interval to about 20 h. Consequently, it may be feasible to omit several milkings/week without large losses in lactational yield if the milking intervals are less than 20 h. This paper reports a study of the effect of a reduced frequency of milking (3 milkings each 2 d) with a maximum 19-h milking interval, on the milk yield of cows when applied at different stages of lactation. METHOD Forty-nine predominantly Jersey-Friesian cross cows were allocated to one of 7