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Cow Feeding Affecting The Milk

Cow Feeding Affecting The Milk image
Parent Issue
Day
25
Month
September
Year
1874
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

A writer on the tferman Jixperiinental Stations, in the Practical Farmer, says : " The work of the Moeckern station consista mostly in investigations on the nutrition of animáis, some of the atables on the farm being used for the oattle uuder experiment. Let me describe to you, some of these trials. " A question much discussed by the farmers thereabouts has been, whether it was possible, by changing the composition of the food, to change the composition of the milk ; whether, for instance. by feeding a ration rich in fatty or oily matter, the railk could be made richer in butter. This was an important problom, and Dr. Keuhn, the director of the station, undertook its study. " Four oows were selected and were fed for a certain period, with a ration of a given compoaition, and then, for another corresponding period, with a ration of different composition. The food and milk were carefully analyzed, and the effect of the food upon the milk noted. - Several series of experimenta of this kind were carried on, and so great was the pains taken to secure accuracy, and ao large was the amount of analytical work done in the laboratory, that the hard labor of three or four chemists, during sevoral months, was required for each series. " Similar experimenta have been made at Moeckern and elsewhere to determine the effects of different amounts of food on the amount and quality of the milk produced. Some farmers claimed that it was most economical to feed the richest fodder, and as much as the animáis will eat, while others believed that, for instance, when green clover was fed, the cow would eat more than she could utilize economically, simply, becauso it tastes good.' " The general results of these experimenta show that the composition of the dry mhstance of the mik, that is to gay the relative amount of butter (fat) and casein that it contains, is not essentially affected by changea in the composition of the fodder. By feeding a rich ration the total araount of the milk, and likewise its richness, or the percentage of dry matter that it contains, may be increased up to a certain point. But, as soon as the ration reaches a certain maximum, further increase of the food is without effect on the quality, and exercises only a slight effect on the quantity of the milk produced. " The practical inference from these experiments is, that, with milch cows, neither the richest fodder, nor the largest quantities of food are always the most profitable. On the other hand, too meager fodder is atill worse. Here, as elsewhere, a fair meten will be found best. Aa regards the effect of different foods upon the composition of the milk, the dairyman may not hope by variation in the fodder to change a ' butter cow' to a casein (cheese) cow.' He must rather, depend, for the quality of the milk - for its relative richnesa in fat or casoin, and for its special fitness for butter-making, or cheese-making - upon the peouliarities of the animáis themselves. Or, in few words, for quality of milk, select proper breeds ; for qantity good milkera ; and feed well, but not over richly."

Article

Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus