Shekhy — Average Percentage of Fat in a Cc-iv's Milk. 559 



Since the great majority of the cows supplying the Irish creameries calve 

 in March and April, it is a fair inference that the quality of their milk is 

 about the average during the month of August : that is, when they are about 

 five months calved. 



Professor Eckles and Mr. Eoscoe H. Shaw made a similar investigation 

 in the United States, with twelve cows belonging to four different breeds, 1 

 and give the percentage of fat in each cow's milk during successive four-week 

 periods and the averages for the complete lactation. On examining these 

 figures, which are for individual cows, one finds that in only one case does 

 the four-week average depart from the lactation average seriously, i.e., by 

 more than ten per cent., if the first eight weeks and those after the thirty- 

 second be excluded. 



In investigations carried out in Sweden by K. A. Hogstrom with 

 Ayrshire cows, and by Nils Hansson with Dutch cows, it was found that the 

 quality of milk is at the average when the cows are calved just over 

 five months. The results of both investigations are expressed in dia- 

 gram VI, which is copied from Professor Nils Hansson's " Utfodringslara." 



310 

 3001 



i 12 Months. 

 Alberga 



karp 



'3-68/o 



3-1+7- 



Diagram VI. 



The upper curve refers to the Ayrshire cows; the lower to the Dutch. It 

 will be noticed that from the beginning of the third to the end of the seventh 



1 The Influence of Breed and Individuality on the Composition and Properties of 

 Milk, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Animal Industry, Bulletin 156. 



