PEODUCTION OP MILK. 131 



the supply of concentrated food (cake, bean meal, bran, 

 &c.) should rise and fall with the yield of milk, the 

 object being to obtain as large a produce as can be 

 reached without fattening the animal. The best feeding- 

 will not turn a badly milking cow into a good one, but it 

 is possible by sustaining the cow with proper food at the 

 period of her greatest milk production to prolong that 

 profitable period very considerably. Green fodder is 

 favourable to a large produce, so also are brewers' grains. 



As milk is a highly nitrogenous product, the albuminoid 

 ratio in cow's milk being 1 : 3*6, it is obvious that cows 

 in full milk will require a nitrogenous diet. Such a diet 

 is naturally provided when cows feed on young grass and 

 clover; when hay, straw, and roots form the bulk of the 

 food, it is imperative that cake or leguminous corn be 

 also employed if abundance of milk is desired. Wheat 

 bran, and brewers' grains, are generally recognized as 

 good milk foods, and are shown by the table on page 111 

 to have a high albuminoid ratio. Wolff gives 1 : 5'4 as 

 the ratio of nitrogenous to non-nitrogenous substance 

 suitable for cows in full milk. Practice shows that an 

 albuminoid ratio of 1 : 6 8 is sufficient, the higher ratio 

 of albuminoids being reserved for cows yielding 40 

 50 Ibs. of milk per day. 



Milk is far more nitrogenous than the increase of 

 carcase obtained when an animal is fattened. If a cow 

 yields 21 gallons per week, the nitrogen in the milk will 

 be about equal to that contained in 100 Ibs. increase of 

 fattening oxen. The saleable nitrogenous matter yielded 

 by one cow will thus equal that produced in the same 

 time by 6 10 oxen. 



The quality of milk is considerably influenced by the 



