536 INFLUENCE OF THE BREED ON THE QUALITY OF MILK. 



rich. It is also universally remarked, that the morning's milk is of bet- 

 ter quality than that obtained in the evening. 



6°. Period at which it is taken, during the milking. — The milk in the 

 udder of the cow is not uniform in quality. That which is first drawn 

 off is thin and poor, and gives little cream. That which is last drawn — 

 the stroakings, strippings, or afterings — is rich in (luality, and yields 

 much cream. Compared with the first milk, the same measure of the 

 last will give at least eight and often sixteen times as much cream (An- 

 derson). The quality of the cream also, and of the milk when skimmed, 

 is much better in the later than in the earlier drawn portions of the milk. 



7°. Treatment and moral state of the animal. — A state of comparative 

 repose is favourable to the performance of all the important functions in 

 a healthy animal. Any thing which frets, disturbs, torments, or renders 

 it uneasy, affects these functions, and, among other results, lessens tlie 

 quantity or changes the quality of the milk. Such is observed to be the 

 case when the cow has been newly deprived of her calf — when she is 

 taken from her companions in the pasture field — when her usual place 

 ki the cow-house is changed — when she is kept long in the house after 

 the spring has arrived — when she is hunted in the field or tormented by 

 insects— or when any other circumstance occurs by which irritation or 

 restlessness is caused, either of a temporary or of a permanent kind. I 

 do not enquire at present into the physiological nature of the changes 

 which ensue — to the dairy farmer it is of importance chiefly to be familiar 

 with the facts. 



8°. The race or breed and size of the animal. — The quality of the milk 

 depends much upon the race and size of the cow. As a general 

 rule, small races, or small individuals of the larger races, give the richest 

 milk from the same kind of food. Thus the small Highland cow gives 

 a richer milk than the Ayrshire. The small Alderneys give a richer 

 cream than any other breed in common use in this country.* The small 

 Kerry cow is said to equal the Alderney in this respect, while the small 

 Shetlander has been found in the north of Scotland to give from the same 

 food a more profitable return of rich milk than any of the larger races. 

 AU these breeds are hardy, and will pick up a subsistence from pastures 

 on which other breeds would starve. 



The old Yorkshire stock, a cross between the short-horn and the 

 Holderness, is preferred by the London cow-keepers as giving the Zar^c*i 

 quantity of milk, though poor in quahty. 



The long-horns are preferred in Cheshire and Lancashire because of 

 their producing a greater quantity of cheese. The Ayrshire kyloe, on 

 ordinary pasture, is said to be unrivalled for abundant produce (Ayton) 

 — though the milk is not so rich as that of the small breeds. Va"rious 

 crosses have been tried in different parts of the island — and* in almost 

 every district it has been found that the produce of some particular stock 

 is best adapted to the chmate, the soil, the natural grasses, the prevailing 

 husbandry, or to the kind of dairy produce which it is the interest of the 

 farmer to raise in his own peculiar neighbourhood. 



' A very striking illustration of the difference in the quality of tiie milk of two breeds, in 

 the same circumstances, is given by Mr. Malcolm, in his Compendium of Modem litis- 

 bandry. He kept an Alderney and a Suffolk cow, the latter the best he ever saw. During 

 seven years, the milk and butfer being kept separate, it was found, year after year, that the 

 value of the Alderney exceeded that of the Suffolk, though the latter gave more than 

 double the quantity of milk at a meal— BrtrtsA Husbandry, ii., p. 397. 



