CHAPTER III 

 THE PRODUCTION OF MILK DAIRY CATTLE 



THE prosperity of any dairy industry is very largely 

 dependent upon the economic production of the raw 

 material, namely, milk. Unless milk is produced at 

 a profit to the farmer or dairyman, it is impossible 

 to establish a permanently successful manufacturing 

 industry upon it. 



While it is without the scope of this work to dis- 

 cuss all the phases of economical milk production, 

 every manufacturer of milk products should have at 

 least some understanding of the various conditions 

 which so closely underlie the prosperity of the industry. 



Milk a maternal function. As has been mentioned 

 in a preceding chapter, milk is produced as a part of 

 the maternal function of the females of the class mam- 

 malia, but while maternity is the efficient stimulus to 

 milk production, the commercial production of milk in 

 the highly civilized and specialized animal known as 

 the dairy cow, is influenced to such a degree by so 

 many other conditions that we are in danger of over- 

 looking the part that maternity plays in milk secretion. 



Wild animals, and, as a matter of fact, practically 

 all domesticated animals, secrete milk solely to supply 

 the young with food until such time as it is able to 



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