CHAPTER XXI 



MILK PRODUCTION 



MILK, like all other animal products, is derived from 

 the food. Its secretion stands almost unrivaled as an 

 example of the rapid, extensive and continuous trans- 

 formation of the food into animal compounds. In no 

 other instance, except perhaps in the case of the earliest 

 growth of animals, is so large a proportion of the 

 digested nutrients utilized in building new material or 

 is there so intimate a relation between the extent and 

 kind of the feeding and the extent and character of the 

 resulting product. For these and other reasons, the 

 successful feeding of milch cows requires, perhaps, 

 greater expertness and a wider knowledge of facts than 

 any other department of animal husbandry. This will 

 appear more fully as we continue to develop this subject. 



It is not proposed in this connection to enter into 

 an elaborate discussion of the chemistry and secretion 

 of milk, for this is presented elsewhere in the series 

 of which this volume is a part. It is essential to 

 present purposes, however, that we call to mind certain 

 facts which are pertinent to a consideration of the food 

 relations of milk formation. 



Milk is a fluid that is secreted by all mammals in a 

 gland which with the cow is called the udder. It con- 



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