COMPOSITION 

 OF MILK. 



Water, 

 Solids, 



Fat, 



Caseine, 



Sugar, 



Ash, 



15.90 



13.00 



AVERAGE OF ALL 

 KINDS OF MILK. 



PER CENT. 



87.00 

 13.00 



100.00 



3.75 



3.50 



5.00 



.75 



13.00 



Richness of milk from four breeds of cows and four individual cows 

 of each breed, at the New Hampshire Experiment Station : 



Averages, 



5.12 



4.28 



3.13 



3.86 



Here we see the greatest variation is in breeds. The difference 

 in averages' amounts to 63 per cent. ; that is, the amount of fat in 

 the Jersey milk is 63 per cent, greater than in the Holstein. The 

 variation between the richest and poorest milk of individual cows in 

 each breed, was as follows : Jersey, 39 per cent. ; Ayrshire, 19 per 

 cent. ; Holstein, 24 per cent. ; Shorthorns, 18 per cent. 



What has already been said does not seem to bear much upon the 

 subject, perhaps, but if we are to show how the richness of milk 

 ma}' or ma} f not be changed, we must know what variations are due 

 to breed and what to individuals ; that is, we must fully appreciate 

 the fact that there are wide variations due to these two causes, and 

 we must not conclude, as some are prone to do, that because a herd 

 of Jerseys, fed on one kind of food, produce milk which will make 

 a pound of butter from sixteen pounds of milk, and another herd, of 

 Holsteins, fed on a radically different food, produce milk of which 

 twenty-five pounds are required for a pound of butter, therefore the 

 food of the Jerseys produced richer milk ; it is not the food but the 

 breed. Our four breeds have been fed practically alike, and the av- 

 erage differences in the fat percentage in their milk is due to the 

 breed and not to the feed. 



