FEEDING FAT INTO MILK.

King Country Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 83, 22 May 1908, Page 4

FEEDING FAT INTO MILK.

As to whether the character of the feed has anything to do with the richness of the milk is a question about which formerly there was a great deal of debate. It is now pretty generally believed that the feed does not affect the per cent, of fat in milk. Experiments made in America along this indicate that there is nothing to be gained in the way of increasing the per cent, of fat in the milk by feeding certain feeds. At the lowa station (says an American exchange), a larger per cent, of fat was found in milk of cows getting sugar meal than was found in the milk of the same cows when fed on corn and cob meal. This, however, was only a slight difference, and it was concluded that the results were accidental, or, rather, they were due to some other cause. Very extensive experiments along this line was carried on in Denmark, and Friis writes as follows : —" In the comparative trials with milch cows, now conducted for several years by this station, in which 1639 cows have been included, it has been repeatedly found that the changes made in the feed of the lots have practically had no influence on the chemical composition of the milk. It is possible that a cow that has been poorly fed, or one that is in poor or sichly condition, will give milk that is abnormally low in fat, and when she is better fed, or when she begins to improve in condition, that she will give milk richer in fat than before, but, of course, this sort of comparison is not justifiable, because we have conditions that are abnormal The per cent, of fat which a cow gives seems to be a matter of heredity, just the same as her colour or disposition is a matter of heredity, and can no more be changed that can otther of these two characteristics.