74 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 
to eight pounds of potato pulp and three-fourths to one pound 
of rice polishings a head daily. The explanation of the ab- 
normally low saponification and Reichert-Meissl values un- 
questionably lies in this fact. The conclusion that would 
naturally be drawn in the light of the studies of the influence 
of underfeeding is that the animals were underfed on account 
of the short pasture. 
Ziegfeld'!® reported a sudden drop in the Reichert-Meissl 
value of the butter fat during a period of feeding cows on 
beet-tops, which is attributed to a sudden fall in the tempera- 
ture, causing the leaves to become to some extent frozen. 
Inasmuch as the cows were fed the beet-tops ad libitum with 
no additional feed, it would hardly be expected that they 
would consume the required amount to support maintenance 
and milk flow if they were suddenly required to eat the partly 
frozen beets. A number of other equally clear cases have 
been gathered from the literature. 
CONCLUSIONS 
The percentage of fat in milk ean be influenced to a marked 
extent for the first twenty to thirty days by the fatness of the 
animal at parturition. This influence appears to extend in 
some cases in a less degree for at least three months. 
Underfceding of the animal after parturition seems to be 
a necessary condition to bring about this abnormal percentage 
of fat in the milk. 
Tests of. dairy cows made for short intervals in the be- 
ginning of the lactation period cannot be depended upon to 
indieate the normal percentage of fat produced by the cows 
tested. 
Underfeeding of the lactating cow results in a decline in 
the Reichert-Meiss] number and the saponification value and 
an inerease in the jodin value of the milk fat. 
The inerease in the percentage of milk fat and the changes 
in the character of the fat which accompany underfeeding 
1M, Ziegfleld, Die Zusammenseizungd des Butterfetics bei Riibenbdlatt- 
fiitterung in Z, Nahr. Genussm., 17, 179-86, 1909. 
