A method for controlling the milking by a milking machine comprises the steps of: (i) providing (41) different milking schemes, each of which being distinguished by a set of milking parameters, such as milking vacuum, high pulse vacuum, low pulse vacuum, pulse rate, and pulse length; (ii) controlling (43) the milking machine for the milking of a milking animal so that each of the different milking schemes is applied for at least one milking of the milking animal; (iii) for each of the milkings, recording (45) milk yield and/or milking time of the milking of the animal; (iv) evaluating (51) each of the milking schemes for milking the animal based on the recorded milk yield and/or milking time; and (v) selecting (53) one of the milking schemes based on the evaluation, and controlling (53) the milking machine during subsequent milkings of the animal so that they are performed according to the selected milking scheme.