CAN THE TEST Of MILK BE CHANGED?

Otaki Mail, 20 March 1922, Page 4

CAN THE TEST Of MILK BE CHANGED?

v ! Says "Harvester" in the Otago i Daily Times: — Two dairy farmers were discussing 1 the general low ;est ol' milk as indi- j rated hy the returns from the loca. ! nulli shipping plant, only one farms - ( joi the district could claim wind would he considered a lairly high j test for the milk of his herd. "Hut '

J John is a rare heavy feeder,” remarkI' eh one ol i lie neighbours. ‘'Yes,'' mat explains it," replied his friend. These j two men were merely voicing an i lea j tliat is very generally entertained - that rhe test 'or niiik can be infiuemed : by fire feeding. Mltv per cent of dairy farmers, and perhaps more, ■fully believe that if they increase the grain rations ol the cows, or substi , tnie ricli concentrates ior ground grain, that they will get a higner . testing milk. All experimental cvi- , deuce, however, goes to show that | 1 there is no system of feeding tint- will • influence the percentage of hit in milk for any considerable time. In ' Denmark, the iu:lji tests of thtrisincs * of cows were considered to determine : whether changes ol feed were ace ■c'iplished by changes in buttertat tests s and the results were negative. The * richness of milk is an hereditary qua- 1 iity. and the only way in which a t high testing milk can be ensured is ; by breeding from high testing strains, j Tim iii M»r»ii*n 'a-* hntffli*fQf

the only way m wrucu ;p,i butteriat production of the cow can be increased is by feeding well to increase-the quality of-milk. It is true, however, that sudden changes in feeds will tiller ihe test temporarily. For instance, it is now well known that ; many breeders, who have been suc- | ces-iJn! in making high seven day lasts with thcdr registered cows, have followed the practice of feeding very I heavily up to ihe day the test started j and Then suddenly cutting the ration in two or even more. Such a radical change seems to disorganise the ~ys ; tern of the cow, and the nervous, r-»v- ---, ered condition that results puts up | the test to an extent that more than | compensates for the reduction >h pounds of milk produced. Where re- j cords aie made in litis manner, how- 1 ever; the cow is .seldom - carried on , even for fourteen days? Similar changes, in test are induced by acci- j dents, it being commonly believed, ! for instance,', that a grand champion; cow at one 01 our winter fair dairy 1 tests owed her honours to jjja fact - that she knocked her horn off when j coining out of ihe car. Her ■ milk j tested abnormally high. Contrary j pinion notwithstanding, we can lay i down as a rule that ids only way j i increase the test of milk is by j •ceding— not feeding. j