RErORT OF THE AGRICULTURIST 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



MONTHLY STATEMENTS. 



269 



EXPERIMENTS WITH DAIRY CATTLE. 



As stated elsewhere, a number of Shorthorns, Ayrshires and Guernseys were im- 

 ported in 1901. The females, with the addition of a few grades of each breed already 

 in the stables, will make up the dairy herds for 1902, and some succeeding years. 



There will be three distinct herds with a subdivision in each as follows : Short- 

 horn herd, and Shorthorn grades ; Ayrshire herd, and Ayrshire grades ; Guernsey 

 herd, and Guernsey grades. Account will be taken of the produce in calves and milk 

 in both pure-bred and grade herds. A strict account will be kept of the food con- 

 sumed by each individual animal. 



Experiments during the past year have been carried on along two lines ; to deter- 

 mine the effect of milking at unequal intervals and to gain some information as to the 

 comparative value of some different rations fed in different ways. Reports on these 

 follow : — 



HOURS OF MILKING. 



The experiment to ascertain the influence of hours of milking upon the amount 

 of milk produced, and upon the quality of the same has been continued, and three 

 separate experiments are summarized in the tables which follow. 



The cows are usually milked here at 6 o'clock a.m. and 4.30 p.m. When milked at 

 equal intervals during the experiment the hours were 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. By ' Period 

 of change ' in the following tables is meant the week succeeding the change of milking 

 hour from 4.30 p.m. to 6 p.m. in order to make the intervals between milkings of equal 

 lengths or vice versa. 



