540 EFFECT OF INDIVIDUAL FORM AXI) CONSTITUTION. 



though neither very large nor thick towards the udder, yet long and 

 tapering towards a point. A cow with a large head, a high backbone, a 

 small udder and teats, and drawn up in the belly, will, beyond all doubt, 

 be found a bad milker." [Youatt's Cattle, p. 244, quoted in British Hus- 

 bandry, ii., p. 397.] Thus, while much depends upon the breed, the 

 form of the individual also has much influence upon its value as a 

 milker. 



But independent of form, the quality of the milk is greatl}' affected by 

 the individual constitution of every cow we feed. Thus in a report of 

 the produce of butter yielded by each cow of a drove of 22, chiefly of the 

 Ayrshire breed — all of which we may presume to have been selected 

 for dairy purposes with equal regard to their forms — and which were 

 all fed upon the same pastures in Lanarkshire, the yield of milk and 

 butter by four of the cows in the same week is given as follows : — 

 Milk. Butter. 



A yielded ... 84 quarts, which gave . . . . 3| lbs. 



F and R each . 86 " " " 5| lbs. 



G yielded ... 88 " " " 7 lbs.* 



Showing that, though the breed, the lood, and the yield of milk was 

 nearly the same, the cow G produced twice as much butter as the cow 

 A — or its milk was twice as rich. This result would have been still 

 more interesting had we known the relative quantities of grass consumed 

 by these two cows respectively. 



I will not insist upon other causes by which the quality of the milk is 

 more or less materially affected. It is said that when stall fed the same 

 cow will yield more butter than when pastured in the field — that the age 

 of the pasture also influences the yield of butter — an i that salt mingled 

 with the food improves both the quantity and the quality of the milk. 

 There are, probably, few circumstances which are capable in any way 

 of affecting the comfort of the animal which will not also modify the 

 quality of the milk it yields. 



§ 3. Of the circumstances which affect the quantity of the milk. 



The epithet good-milker applied to a cow has very different significa- 

 tions in different districts and countries. Thus the experiments of 

 Boussingault upon the effect of different kinds of food on the quality of 

 the milk (p. 538) were made upon a French cow which was considered 

 a gT?od milker, and yet when in best condition never gave more than 11 

 quarts a day. Two, or even two and a half, times that quantity is not 

 considered extraordinary in the height of the season in many parts of our 

 island. 



There are three circumstances which principally affect the quantity of 

 milk — namely, the breed, the kind of food or pasture, and the distance 

 from the time of calving. 



1°. The breed. — The smaller breeds of cattle yiekl, as is to be ex- 

 pected, a smaller daily produce of milk — though from the same weight 

 of food they occasionally give even a greater volume of milk than the 

 larger breeds. 



Good ordinary cows in this country yield, on an average, from 8 to 12 



' Prize Essays of t'Ki JEgfdand Society, New Series, ii., p. 258. 



