Mature Cows Best.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 31 July 1911, Page 4

Mature Cows Best.

The production of milk and butter fat by dairy cows under normal conditions increased with each year up to the fifth and sixth year, when the cow is at her best. The length -nf time she will maintain her maximum production 'depends 'on her constitutional strength and the care with wlrioli she is fed and 'handled, says a bulletin from the Wisconsin experiment station. A good dairy cow should not show any marked falling off until after ten years of age; many excellent records have been made by cows older than this. The quality of the milk produced by heifers is somewhat better than that of

older cows, for we find a decrease of one to two-tenths of 1 per cent, in tine average fat content for each year till the cows liave reached the full age. It is caused by the increase in the weight of the cows with advancing ago; at any rate there appears to bo a. parallelism between the two sets of figures for the samo cows.

Young animals use a portion of their food for the formation of body tissue, aai<l it is to he exported, thierefore, that heifers will require a larger portion of nutrients for the production of a. unit of milk or but-ter-fat than do older cows. After a certain age has been reached, on the average seven years of -age, the food required for the production 'of a unit of milk or butter-fat increases both as regards dry matter and the digestible_component.s of the food. A good milch cow of exceptional strength, kept under favourable conditions, whoso digestive system has not been impaired bv overfeeding or crowding for liigh records, should continue to be a profitable producer till her 12th year, although the economy of 'her production is apt to be somewhat reduced before this age is reached.