They had people milk the animals themselves which had the added benefit of causing the animals to produce antibodies in their milk for any illnesses the person had within 24 hours
I'm sorry, I'm going to have to ask for the sauce on this. "Illnesses" are not universally cross-species compatible and I very much doubt a cow's anti-body response to diseases a person had is going to be directly useful to your body even if the disease could spread cross-species.
Drinking this antibody milk can effectively inoculate a human against the corresponding disease for about 10 days. It's been well established for quiet some time. So yes, this is the origin of the milk maids during plagues that didn't get sick and had flawless skin.
I'm sorry, I'm going to have to ask for the sauce on this. "Illnesses" are not universally cross-species compatible and I very much doubt a cow's anti-body response to diseases a person had is going to be directly useful to your body even if the disease could spread cross-species.
Been a while since I did the research but here's a link: https://phys.org/news/2013-06-unusual-antibodies-cows-ways-therapies.html
Drinking this antibody milk can effectively inoculate a human against the corresponding disease for about 10 days. It's been well established for quiet some time. So yes, this is the origin of the milk maids during plagues that didn't get sick and had flawless skin.
I would love to see that study too.