MILK YIELDS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 476, 7 April 1909, Page 5

MILK YIELDS.

How much milk .should yield per annum, or average 'perday>ine''" whole year round is! -jbeing; moment. So many people k%*MlkTWcof'3f now that we know much more ■ about, the performances of our animals than we used to do (writes Primrose M'Connell, B.Sc). The writer has kept a milk record for over.twenty years, and thus has the written history of every animal he has owned within that time./ In northern districts) and in cheesemaking districts where the cows only yield milk' about eight months from spring to.autumn, the number of gallons per head is rather limited, and Mr. Row, of the Board of Agriculture, has given the average yield of the British ■Islands at about. 450 gallons per. head per •annum. On the other hand, there are many milk-selling dairies where the- cows are allowed to run in milk as long as possible, and where the animals have bean selected for milking, and where- thev average yield is over 800 gallons per- ; head,'.' Under ordinary circumstances, :however; 'where..cows are in milk all the year* round, and are forced a little with good winter feeding, they should yield 600 gallons on the average. The'writer has exceeded, this many times, but in bad years has not quite reached it. This. would average about 171b. per / day round:the year, but as a cow may average only ten months in niilk (300 days) her true average during the milking period works out at ovor.'2olb. daily. This latter is the figure to take as a basis. Everyone who keeps a milk record will find that* the average of his actual milking will work out round this 201b.: daily. If he gets : less his cows are doing badly, if more his cows are doing well. It used to be said .in -a- general way that cows in all stages of milking should average a "barn gallon" daily, and this works out .at slightly over 211b. Much, of course, depends on the feeding—roots and straw will not do much, but cake and nical must be added. On the other hand it is quite possible to overdo this and feed more than is repaid in milk. Again, the average may be considerably raised by eliminating two .or three of the inferior cows. It is pr.etty safe to say that any cow yielding less than 400 gallons is-."a boarder" that yields no profit, but "elimination" is a polito phrase for selling a • bad' cow to your neighbour; generally, however, one's neighbours understand all about it themselves.-