382 Feeds and Feeding. 



greatest number gave the most milk during the third and the most 

 fat during the second week after calving. 



601. Loss in weight. Haecker of the Minnesota Station 1 found 

 that during the early stages of lactation cows lose rapidly in weight. 

 In one case the average decrease for 15 COW T S was 49 Ibs. per cow for 

 the first week, with an average daily loss per cow of 2 Ibs. for the 

 first 7 weeks. During this time the cows yielded products in excess 

 of what the food furnished in some instances twice as much. Such 

 excess of yield gradually decreased until the eleventh week, when 

 cows of pronounced dairy temperament reached equilibrium between 

 the food nutrients consumed and dairy products yielded, while others 

 required a longer time to reach equilibrium. 



602. Meager and liberal feeding. For a full year Wing and 

 Foord of the Cornell Station 2 recorded the milk and fat yield of a 

 herd of poorly nourished cows as kept by a farmer on a New York 

 farm. The herd was then moved to the Station where it was liber- 

 ally fed for 2 years; then it was returned to the farmer who fed 

 them poorly as before. Below appear the average returns of 7 cows 

 so studied: 



First and fourth Second and third 

 years on farm years at Station 



Average weekly yield of milk per cow_ 109 pounds 155 pounds 



Average weekly yield of fat per cow __ 4. 7 pounds 7.1 pounds 



Average fat in milk 4.45 per ct. ,4. 70 per ct. 



Here is an increase thru good feed and care of 42 per ct. in the 

 quantity of milk and 51 per ct. in the quantity of fat over that ob- 

 tained by the farmer. Under improved conditions the fat in the 

 milk of these cows increased 0.25 of 1 per ct., or 5.6 per ct. quanti- 

 tatively. When again subjected to the hard conditions enforced upon 

 them by the poor farmer, the cows fell back to their old record. (704) 



603. Excessive v. low feeding. Eckles of the Missouri Station 3 

 fed one heifer liberally on rich rations from birth until she calved, 

 while another was kept poor and thin. After calving, the milk of 

 the well-fed heifer tested over 4 per ct. fat and that of the thin one 

 about 3 per ct. For several weeks after calving the fat heifer de- 

 clined in weight, the fat percentage remaining constant. When at 

 length her weight became stationary the percentage of fat declined 

 somewhat. The thin heifer did not lose in weight after calving, and 

 the fat in her milk did not decrease. When she began to gain on lib- 

 eral feeding, the fat percentage of her milk slightly increased. In the 

 end the milk of the two heifers was about equally rich. 



1 Bui. 79. 2 Bui. 222. 3 Hoard 's Dairyman, July 9, 1909. 



