INFLUENCE OF FEEDING

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 351, 4 February 1937, Page 8

INFLUENCE OF FEEDING

INCEEASING BUTTEi, FAT

GREATER MILK YIELD

Very ir.nny dairy men hold strong convictions that certain feeds will in crease the butter fat percentage oi their cows. While it. is perfectly true that a change from, sav, ordinal-.'

grazing to special and extra feeds ol balanced rations will result in a large: quantity of butter fat produced, this will have been hrongh about by an in crease in the quantity of milk nnd not bf any increase in the fat percentage says an Australian writer. Butter fal percentage is an hercditar.x factor; a cow is a 4.2 per cent cow or a 6 per cent, cow, according to bcr inheritance »nd the manner o‘ feeding will not al ter the average percentage

Many experiments lur e freon carried out to determine the possibility of increasing the fat per; outage bv special feeding, particularly with foods rich in fats, but the deductions were’, that if occasionally the fat content has boon slightly, inore—cd over a very short period the milk quickly return.’ to its norma I compos'tion

Experience shows that ?|th niuh a now’s butter fat per-emtage will vnrv at both milkings during the day. and also •mm day to day. due largely to uneven periods between milking, yet it is a constant factor taken over a long period. It can be said that stock which are always well fed and >n good condition wiM maintain their fat percentage at the normal level, as compared with cattle running on o v er-stocked countr> and which are underfed and in poor •ondition, and whose tests would eon sequent I v bo lowered This is dro to the fact that cows in poor condition use up some of their hod' l«t to maintain the pialitv in their milk, but eventual!' rhev become incapable of doing this ind although probably only giving small quantifies of milk, there will ue a decrease in the fat percentage An increase in the butter <at per ••entage of the milk of a herd would orobahly be brought about bv the ns< if bulls from dams noted f° r their high-product ion tests It is well known t" those who sti’dv th<» lj«»rd books that there are families in oath breed noted for their low tests nnd also thorn noted for their high tests, nnd if is frmi • hat a bull could Up carefully selected r or the object in view.