CHAPTER XIX. 



FEEDING FOR BUTTER FAT FEEDING FOR MILK. 



Bulletin No. 14 of the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station contains an 

 experiment showing the effect of feed on the quantity of milk, indicating that: 



1. Quality of milk so far as measured by its percentage of fat was changed 

 by feed to a much greater degree than was quantity. Two-thirds of the increase 

 in average gross yield of butter fat was due to improved quality of the milk and 

 only one-third to increased milk flow. 



2. Sugar meal produced .58 of a pound more butter fat per 100 Ibs. of milk 

 than did corn and cob-meal; this difference is 17 per cent of the amount of fat 

 in 100 Ibs. of milk produced by corn and cob-meal. 



3. Sugar-meal produced .73 of a pound more total solids' per 100 Ibs. of milk 

 than did corn and cob- meal; this difference is 6 per cent of the solids in 100 Ibs. 

 of milk produced by corn and cob-meal. 



4. As compared with corn and cob-meal, sugar-meal increased the ratio of 

 fat to "solids not fat" in 100 Ibs. of milk from 396 per 1,000 of "solids not fat" to 

 457 per 1,000 of "solids not fat" an increase of over 15 per cent. 



Prof. E. W. Stewart in his very valuable work "Feeding Animals," says: 

 "Since certain very partial experiments were made in Germany * * * dairymen 

 have been told to seek quality of milk in the breed and not in the food. We are 

 always ready to admit and emphasize the value of breed." But "in phil- 



osophy and fact the quality and quantity of milk is as perfectly controlled by 

 quality and quantity of food as is the quality and weight of flesh laid upon a 

 stall-fed animal." 



Our dairy writers have been very slow to admit the truth of statements of 

 this character. Especially have the advocates of the Jersey breed refused to do 

 so. It is very probable that a majority of them will continue to maintain that 

 quality cannot be fed into milk. 



We believe that quality can be fed into milk and that we have in this 

 country the most favorable conditions for so doing. Our climates are dry, our 

 grasses are rich, we have the greatest abundance of rich and cheap grain foods, 

 and our dairymen are among the most skillful feeders in the world. The com- 

 petition among the dairy breeds, especially between the Holstein-Friesian and 

 Jersey, is stimulating to the highest efforts in this direction. 



And furthermore we believe that the work of feeding quality into milk is 

 comparatively rapid. 



We wish to add in this connection that we believe the contest between the 

 Holstein-Friesian and Jersey breeds will ultimately depend on their constitu- 

 tional vigor. The Holstein-Friesian has entered later in the race, but it has 

 immense constitutional vigor. Originally the Jersey is a giver of richer milk 

 but it has less stamina, and produces much less milk. But whatever may be 

 the conclusion of this contest the dairy interests of this country are to be 

 greatly benefited by it. The qualities fed into animals are transmissible, and 

 there is no doubt that certain families in both breeds are being rapidly improved. 

 Ere long our friends embedded in the German experiments will wake up and 

 discover that quality can be fed into the milk of all breeds of dairy cattle. 



Bulletin No. 18 of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station contains 

 a report on the "Testing of Dairy Breeds." This report is of more than ordin- 

 ary interest to breeders of cattle. 



In this report there is an introduction, consisting of a description of the 

 breeds represented, the foods used, and a table showing the weights of each 

 animal at the close of each month, which are averaged; then follows a table for 

 each animal tested, showing the total of each variety of food consumed and the 

 daily average of each month and the total of the entire period. These tables 

 also show the increase of live weight and daily gains each month, and the close 

 of the period. Following this are five pages of general averages. In these 

 tables, the summary of the results for each individual are now grouped 

 together according to the breed and averages made. In the Holstein and Ayr- 



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