20 PROFITABLE DAIRYING 



Daily variations. Milk will vary a great deal 

 in richness from day to day. The health of the 

 animal also has an influence on the variation of 

 the percentage of fat. Excitement may very ma- 

 terially reduce the quantity of milk as well as 

 the quality. It is therefore poor policy for a 

 dairyman to abuse his cows by beating them or 

 by allowing them to be chased by dogs. 



Composition of colostrum. The first milk after 

 a cow freshens is termed colostrum milk. Instead 

 of having a solid not fat content of 9.0 per cent, 

 it seldom falls below 18.0 per cent. The great 

 increase in the solids not fat is due to the increase 

 in those substances which are very essential as 

 a food for the calf during the first three or four 

 days after birth, viz.: casein and albumen. The 

 following table gives the composition of this milk, 

 showing that the fat content is quite normal but 

 that the solids not fat differ greatly from the 

 solids not fat in normal milk: 



Water 74.6 per cent. 



Fat 3.6 per cent. 



Casein 4.0 per cent. 



Albumen 13.6 per cent. 



Milk Sugar 2.6 per cent. 



Ash 1.6 per cent. 



100.0 



However, these solids not fat constituents in 

 the colostrum milk decrease very rapidly, so that 

 the milk becomes "normal" at the seventh or 



