FUNCTIONAL VARIATION 



79 



Rose commenced April 13 and Nora, May 22, 1899, and both 

 were milked for a full twelve months. Both were in good health, 

 and both continued in good flow until the last, Rose averaging 

 over 1 8 pounds of milk per day and Nora nearly 14 pounds for 

 the last seven days of the test. Each consumed all the feed she 

 cared to take, the only restriction being that its composition 

 was the same for both. Neither was in any sense beefy, but 

 Rose gained 181 pounds and Nora 165 pounds from August I 

 to April i , showing that they were evidently working at or near 

 their limit of milk production. The grain fed was corn meal 

 and oil meal, and the roughage consisted of clover- hay, rape, 

 green corn, and corn silage, always in combination with one or 

 more of the following, gluten meal, wheat bran, ajid ground 

 oats. They were never on pasture during the experiment, and, 

 as has been stated, the feed was identical in quality for both. 



Rose consumed slightly the heavier ration and yielded decid- 

 edly the larger product both in milk and fat. The following 

 table exhibits the total feed consumed and the product yielded 

 for the entire period of twelve months : l 



COMPARATIVE MILK PRODUCTION ON BASIS OF FOOD CONSUMED 



Cast in verbal form this means that Rose was able to produce 

 47 per cent more milk and 89 per cent more butter than Nora, 

 with the consumption of but 4.67 per cent more feed. Reduc- 

 ing both to the same basis of food consumed, it appears that 

 with a given amount of feed for every IOO pounds of milk given 

 by Nora, Rose gave 139.5 pounds ; and for every IOO potmds of 



1 Feed in pounds of digestible nutrients. Butter reckoned at 16.66 per cent 

 water, adding one sixth to the butter fat. Per cent of difference calculated on 

 Nora as a base. 



