DISEASES OF YOUNG CALVES. 

 Influence of feed on milk. {loiva station.) 



257 



Here we see in every instance a marked relative increase oi' the but- 

 ter, and to a less extent of the other milk solids whenever the sugar 

 meal — rich in fat and albuminoids — was furnished. The opposite 

 theory having been largely taught, it becomes needful thus to sustain 

 the old and well-founded belief of the dairymen. 



Not only does the richness of the milk vary with the nature of the 

 food, but it varies also according to the time of the day when it is 

 drawn, the morning milk giving 7| per cent of cream and the evening' 

 milk 9| per cent (Hassall). Boedecker found that the morning 

 milk had 10 per cent of solids, while the evening milk had 13 per cent. 

 Again, the milk first drawn at any milking is always poorer than the 

 last drawn. The first may have only one-half, or in extreme cases 

 one-fourth, the cream of the last. Once more, when the cow is in heat 

 the milk becomes richer in solids (casein and butter), and contains 

 granular and white blood cells like the colostrum, and often disagrees 

 with the young animal living on it. Now, while these various modifi- 

 cations in the amount of solid matters may prove harmless to a strong 

 and vigorous calf, they can easily be the occasion of intestinal dis- 

 order in a weaker one, or in one with health already somewhat im- 

 paired by sickness, exposure, or unwholesome buildings. The casein 

 of the cow's milk coagulates in one solid mass, and is much less easily 

 penetrated by the digesting fluids than the fine, flaky coagula of 

 woman's or mare's milk. An excess of casein, therefore, thrown on 

 an already overtaxed stomach can all the more readily induce dis- 

 order. So it is with butter fat. While a most important element in 

 nutrition, it may be present in the stomach in such quantity as to 

 interfere with the action of the gastric juice on the casein, and with 

 54793°— 23 17 



