FEEDING FOR TEST

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 620, 23 March 1929, Page 29

FEEDING FOR TEST

THE MODERN VIEWPOINT Does the feeding of different kinds of feed increase or decrease the amount of butter-fat in milk? My observation and experience have taught me that it will not. To settle an argument on this point, will you. kindly express yourself on the matter, asks a writer in Hoard’s “Dairyman.” To this the reply is made that tho evidence from experimental trials is conclusive that the fat percentage of milk cannot be permanently changed by any method of feeding. However, experiments have shown that sudden changes in the ration may result in a small fat increase or decrease for a few days with some individuals, and with others no effect is produced. In every case the results are only temporary. Cows highly fitted before freshening will frequently show a higher test than normal for a few weeks, but the test will then return to normal. In discussing this subject, Henry and Morrison in their book, “Feeds and Feeding,” say: ‘‘Until recent years it was believed that milk varied in percentage of fat from milking to milking, according to the dairy feed and care the cow received. We now know that if the cow receives sufficient nutrients to maintain her body weight, the percentage of fat cannot be materially altered for any long period of time by greater or less liberality of feeding or by supplying any particular kind of feed. Cows starved or greatly underfed may produce milk somewhat lower in fat as coconut meal, for example, apparU was recently stated by a veterinarian in Sydney that no successful cure had been discovered for paralysis following tick poisoning in domestic animals. The “Daily Te reports that Mr. F. Bassett Hull, of Manly, has successfully applied a teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda to several dogs and cats that had become tick infested. He lost only two cases out of a dozen or more, a cat and a dog, the former being attacked while still weak from a previous attack, and the latter being a highly nervous collie. Mr. Bassett Hull applies the bicarbonate of soda mixed in butter, and given as a pill. He gives the animals a dessertspoonful of castor oil half an hour after the pill, and advises owners to keep the sufferers quiet and shut up in a room or shed. The tick, if discovered, should be immediately removed with forceps or linger nails and permanganate of potash applied to the wound. He further states that two dogs that are under his daily observation, which were treated in this way when partially paralysed, are frequently infested with ticks, but show no ill-effects, which suggests that they are now immune.