INCREASING BUTTER-FAT BY SPECIAL FEEDING.

Shannon News, 3 February 1925, Page 4

INCREASING BUTTER-FAT BY SPECIAL FEEDING.

The matter of increasing the percentage of butter-fat by special feeding has been tried a great many times, and- no appreciable increase in the percentage of butter-fat has ever been made. You cannot change the normal percentage of butter-fat that a cow in giving by any feed, but the condition of the cow affects the butter-fat considerably, also the period of lactation. If a cow before she freshens is fed up on oily feed, such as oil cake, etc., and is freshed up so that she is fat, after she freshens she will fail in flesh, and a certain amount of this fat apparently goes into fat, and increases the percentage of butter-fat. That is how some breeders of dairy cattle make such high records when cows me put on the seven-day test, but alter they have been milked for a considerable length of time they come back to normal in flesh, and also are normal in the percentage of butterfat.

"The period of lactation also affects the percentage of butter-fat. A cow will usually give a little higher percentage of butter-fat near the end of the lactation period, or if a cow is very thin in flesh it might also affect the percentage of fat."