DAIRY FARMING 



CHAPTER 1 



IMPORTANCE OF THE DAIRY INDUSTRY 

 G. F. WARREN 



1. Milk a Universal Food. Milk is the one universal 

 food of mankind. All civilized peoples use milk from farm 

 animals. The more highly civilized and prosperous the 

 population, the greater is the amount of milk consumed. 

 In regions so far north that cows cannot be kept, reindeer 

 milk is used. In regions like India and the Philippines, 

 which are too hot for our common cattle, the water buffaloes 

 are the dairy animals and beasts of burden. In the deserts 

 the milk of mares and camels serves as food. In regions 

 where the people are very poor, goats and sheep are used 

 as milk animals. In parts of South America llamas are 

 so used. Everywhere civilized man keeps some milk animal. 



2. Value of Milk as Food. The value of milk as food 

 is beginning to be better appreciated, but even now its 

 full value is not always realized. Most liquids have very 

 little food value; for this reason, all liquids are sometimes 

 looked upon as luxuries. But average milk contains 12 to 

 13 per cent of dry matter. This dry matter is readily 

 digestible and contains necessary foods in good proportions. 



B 1 



