Variation of the Composition of Cows' Milk.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 2 October 1914, Page 7

Variation of the Composition of Cows' Milk.

4 The "Irish Homestead " publishes the following. Some carefully conducted experiments in connection with the variation of the composition of cows' milk with the advance of lactation have been conducted at the Garforth Farm of the University of .Leeds. The records extend for three years and include 70 completed periods of lactation (34 cows), of which 57, each extending over six months or more, have been ased in compiling the tables given later. Careful analyses were made. The following is the summary arrived at :— \ With regard to the rate at which the milk yields falls with advance of lactation our records indicate that after the first two or three months this is much more rapid in. the case of cows calving in the months of March or June than in the case of cows calving at other times of the year. The greatest average yield for the whole period of lactation was obtained with cows calving, in January and February. With regard to changes in the composition of milk, our tests have brought out very clearly the fact that the variations in the composition of milk with advance of lactation may.differ greatly in the case of the different cows, so that no precise generalisation upon the subject can be formulated. Roughly speaking, however, the milk is richest in total solids, fat, and albumoids in the earliest and latest stages of lactation, and poorest about the second or third month. The sugar content tends to decrease steadily with advance of lactation after the first month or so, but the proportion of ash remains approximately constant.