MILK AND ITS CARE. 175 



weather, sudden fright, milking at irregular in- 

 tervals, and sickness. 



6. First and Last Milk Drawn. The first 

 milk drawn from the udder at any milking is 

 much poorer in quality than the last. The first 

 often tests as low as i to 1.5 per cent, fat, and 

 the last 8 to 9 per cent. fat. 



7. Intervals between Milkings. When the in- 

 tervals between milkings are equal in length, 

 the morning and night milk is usually about the 

 same in quantity and quality. When the inter- 

 vals are not equal, the larger amount, but the 

 lower per cent, fat, follows the longer interval. 



VI. The Babcock Test. 



i . Need of a Test for Butter Fat. -Milk varies 

 greatly in richness. The writer once tested the 

 milk of a herd of cows each day for a year. The 

 milk of one cow averaged 2.7 per cent, butter 

 fat ; that of another, 7 per cent. The variation 

 in milk from different herds, although less ex- 

 treme than the case mentioned, is found to be 

 very marked ; hence, to do justice to all, milk is 

 now bought or sold at wholesale, as a rule, by 

 the test. 



The creamery or cheese factory pays a cer- 

 tain price for each pound of butter fat as ascer- 

 tained by the test, and not for the gallon or 

 hundredweight of milk. This does away with 

 all temptation to milk adulteration by watering 

 or skimming when selling by the test. Milk 



