48 SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF DAIRYING. 



It is well known that milk may be watered through the animal body T 

 either intentionally or unintentionally. The more the custom of buying 

 milk according to composition prevails, the more rarely will this kind of 

 adulteration take place. 



19. Milk Yields. The amount of the average yield which the 

 different breeds of cows give in their own districts is of minor 

 interest. It is more instructive to inquire what is the average yearly 

 yield of a cow at present for the whole of Germany; and whether 

 this may be regarded as satisfactory. There are in Germany (and 

 in this matter we need not deceive ourselves) still large districts, in 

 which herds of cows, 20 and 30 in number, do not yield on an average 

 more than 2000 kilos. (4400 Ibs.) of milk per annum. On the other 

 hand, there are isolated agricultural districts, in which herds of 80 

 and 100 yield, on an average, 4000 kilos. (8800 Ibs.) of milk per 

 annum. There is no doubt that in Germany, on the whole, except- 

 ing in narrowly limited and advantageously situated districts, the 

 feeding of milk cows, both in quantity and composition of the 

 food, is not yet in proportion to their natural milk-yielding capa- 

 city. We are yet far from having reached the limit of the possible 

 economic development of the milk-yielding capacity of the cow. 

 Whether, under the present conditions of German dairying, we 

 have reached a yearly milk yield of 2500 kilos, per 500 kilos. (5500 

 Ibs. per 1100 Ibs.) of live weight, that is, five times the amount of 

 live weight, the author does not venture to decide; it is certain, 

 so far as his experience goes, that this yield has not been exceeded. 

 With regard to the endeavours which have been made to increase 

 the milk yield of our cows by intelligent breeding, much success, 

 on the whole, has not been attained. The solution of the much- 

 discussed question as to how to improve the quality of the milk, 

 up to the present time has hardly even been considered. 



In the case of single cows, unusually large yields of milk have 

 been observed, amounting to 8000 kilos. (17,600 Ibs.) per annum, or 

 36 kilos. (79 Ibs.), and even more, per day. Cows giving the largest 

 quantity of milk, however, do not always give the most profitable 

 yield. 



The relative moistness of the air, and the percentage of water in the food, 

 especially in the case of grass and the ordinary roots, which vary in the 

 different districts according to their geographical position, appear to 

 exercise, through their continued operation, a powerful influence on the 



