The Cause of "Ropy" Milk.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 173, 9 October 1886, Page 4

The Cause of "Ropy" Milk.

There is something wrong in the feed, Just what it is can't be told without full inquiry into the case, says L. B. Arnold, in the "New England Homestead.' There are Beveral things that produce ropy milk and cream. The most common cause is the use of some medicinal weeds, especially bitter weeds, as ragweed, tansy, worm wood and some species of yellow daisy. Poisonous weeds, such as cicuta and lobelia, which cowb sometimes seem disposed to take, have the same effect. He has in several instances known it to occur from an excessive use of good food. A too free use of sugar beets and mangels lias every now and then been the occasion of ropy milk, but oftener in hot weather than in cold. It is also often the result of weakness from any cause, but especially from scouring. As the cow in question is apparently well and giving milk the cause undoubtedly lies somewhere in her feed, and if the owner will take the trouble to change one -condition of her feed at a time he will be able to find the cause and will gain for himself a bit of valuable information.