276 



DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



The following table, condensed from the Iowa Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station Bulletin, gives the results in butter and total solids when 

 the same cows were fed on different rations in succession. Each cow 

 was fed a daily ration of 12 pounds corn fodder and 4 pounds clover 

 hay, beside the test diet of (1) 12 pounds corn and cobmeal, and (2) 

 10 pounds sugar meal a product of the glucose manufacture. This 

 special feed was given seven days before the commencement of each 

 test period to obviate the eft'ects of transition. The analyses of the 

 special rations are given below : 



The great excess of fat and nitrogenous or flesh-forming principles 

 in the Isugar meal is very evident. 



Here we see in every instance a marked relative increase of the but- 

 ter, and to a less extent of the other milk solids whenever the sugar 

 meal rich in fat and albuminoids was furnished. The opposite theory 

 having been largely taught it becomes needful to thus sustain the old 

 and well-founded belief of the dairymen. 



Not only does the richness of the milk vary with the nature of the 

 food, but it varies also according to the time of the day when it is 

 drawn, the morning milk giving 7 per cent of cream and the evening 

 milk 9 per cent (Hassall). Boedecker found that the morning milk 

 had 10 per cent of solids, while the evening milk had 13 per cent. 

 Again, the milk first drawn at any milking is always poorer than the 

 last drawn. The first may have only one-half, or in extreme cases one- 

 fourth, the cream of the last. Once more, when the cow is in heat the 

 milk becomes richer in solids (casein and butter), and contains gran- 



