DAIRYING 55 



amount of feed eaten, but increasing the feed to an under-fed cow 

 will not change the richness of the milk, although it does increase 

 the amount of milk she gives. There are no feeds, however, that 

 permanently change the normal per cent, of fat in milk. 



Milk secretion is influenced by other things than the amount 

 of nutrients in feed. One of the most conspicuous of these is the 

 change from stable to pasture feed in the spring. This green feed 

 containing an abundant supply of easily digested protein and the 

 exercise in the open air after several months in a closed stable, 

 have a stimulating action on milk secretion and an immediate 

 effect is noticed in the milk; it changes color, flavor, and viscosity* 

 there is a sudden increase in the per cent, of fat in the milk with 

 a slight decrease in amount, but by the second week on pasture 

 the per cent, of fat returns to its normal figure and there is a gain 

 in quantity of milk. Fleischmann reports the following figures ob- 

 tained from the record of a herd of cows that show the effect of 

 changing from stable to pasture. 



Observations on the changes that take place in milk when 

 cows first go from stable- to pasture have been procured at the 

 Vermont Experiment Station for eight years. 'The herd varied in 

 number from 30 to 50 cows during the different years. The milk 

 yield on going to pasture increased each year but one. This in- 

 crease may be expressed in the proportion of 100 pounds of milk 

 during two weeks stable feeding before pasture to 107 pounds 

 during the first two weeks on pasture, and 103 pounds during the 

 next four weeks on pasture, excepting four years when it was 95 

 pounds in the last period of four weeks. 



The per cent, of fat in the milk during these periods of the 

 different years is shown by the following figures. 



