COWS' FOOD AND THE QUALITY OF THEIR MILK.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 9316, 10 March 1893, Page 4

COWS' FOOD AND THE QUALITY OF THEIR MILK.

Profeesor Henry, of WiscODsin, V.S.A ..>' who is aceonnted a high authority on , dairying, m&de a very extreme statement k the other day in an American paper. He said that the quality of milk could not be, to any considerable extent, affected by the food of the cow, It is a well-known ~,.faot that the proportion of caseine and . Other solids, not fat, in milk are nearly - constant, in all conditions, hot the „-■ quantity of butter fat varies greatly, ana '..-it has always been believed that this i: ; ' variation could be affected to a coDsider-[;-able extent by feeding. Professor Henry p says now " that the milk of the cow seems '-. to be a- definite substance, as incapable 5 of ohange from feeding as the color of .' her hair, or her Bize and peDeral form." • This statement, as far as butter-fat I ' is concerned, is so entirely opposed to 7,<wbat is commonly deemed as experience, tin this country, that I could not accept .■ the statement, even en the authority of -, Professor Henry, supported as he says by •experiments carried out in America. ''But the Professor does not contend that >*he proportion of butter-fat in milk does .»ot vary greatly. On the contrary, he ■«ays that it does vary immensely with the ■breed and care of cattle. Moreover, he : goes on to say that some cows will yield l\np the fat of their own tissues (if they are ■ hot -properly supplied with food to proI duoe bntter-fat in their milk) as lone as ■ they have any in their tisanes, and until I they make up their milk to its normal ■ quality. Any amount of feeding with ■food supposed to be produotive of butterBfot, he goes on to say, will not increase ■ toe proportion of fat, bad only the ■gnantity of milk. la other words, ■be fays,- in effect, that a cow, fed ■on straw alone, will yield milk as ■Hob in butter-fab as if she were fed on ■clover and cake. This statement struck ■toe as very much like great nonsenseBout, not to decide entirely on my own ■judgment, I sent the article to Mr Primuse M'Connell, who is a good authority ■>a dairying— practical as well as theoretfBailt and who' has bad a good deal to do ■nth the butter teats at the dairy shows, SSehas made it, the subject of an article Wp.'we Jlffricidtural Gazette, and it has Bbviohsly astonished him as much as ■fcr.has myself. He says:— "ln this ■krantnry we have alwaya believed, and Hoted,pn the belief, that albaminofds ■WMidythe percentage of buttei-fat, While, for quantity of milk alene grass, ■angola's, and sloppy or succulent food Kmejally were the proper thing. Every ■uiqKß.wife.faaß the evidence of her eye ■H&tfltae A ;thicknea3 of cream thrown up ■Kgn Bar pamwaxes and wanes according, n§fa6ttsd (ha cowb are getting, and- this 8 ' Kwioe depths of milk. It cannot ■rjwst the cows of Ameiica are constttumg!o?sPs*il>to out OffD > bat as each

fanner's experience Is the best for himself jfc will be wise for us to continue on in the old way nntll there is further evidence forthcoming. If Professor Henry Is right it would save us a lot of money in this country, or ab least those of as in the new milk trade, who feed high in the belief that we are raising the quality of the milk ; but all the evidence has been cumulative in the opposite direction," i.e., opposite to Professor Henry's conclusion.