ABNORMAL MILK. 61 



a larger amount of milk drawn from a cow yielding more milk, 

 providing the cleanliness of the udder and manner of milking 

 were the same. Cows giving a good quantity of milk always 

 seem to have a cleaner udder. This has been laid to the more 

 vigorous circulation of the blood in the udder of the cow that 

 yields a larger portion of milk. 



When cows calve once a year, and have rest of about seven 

 weeks previous to parturition, if proper precautions are taken 

 concerning cleanliness, they seldom yield milk from which a 

 first-class quality of butter cannot be produced. In practice 

 this regularity of calving does not always exist. Several in- 

 stances have come within the author's notice where cows have 

 been in milk for two years or more without coming in fresh. 

 Such a condition happens ciuite frequently on small farms, 

 where the cows kept are so few that it is deemed imprac- 

 ticable to keep a bull. As a consequence cows are not 

 served at the proper time, and great irregularities in calving 

 are introduced. 



At times it also happens that cows become barren. In 

 such a case they are usually milked as long as they will pro- 

 duce even a very small quantity of milk. Milk produced under 

 such conditions is likely to become abnormal in character. 

 It may remain normal with a slight increase in the fat-content. 

 The abnormal milk, so often complained of, is usually brought 

 about by similar circumstances. It is a common belief that 

 milk yielded from such animals always contains a high fat- 

 content, but it may contain very little fat. It may be salty. 

 It may also appear normal, and the cream when separated 

 appear viscous and dead. Boggild states that the milk at the 

 creamery from one barren cow has more than once pro- 

 duced difficult churning. 



Milk from Spayed Cows. — H. Lennat has given this kind of 

 milk considerable study. He finds that milk from spayed 

 cows may vary in quality to the same extent as milk from normal 

 cows. The solids of milk, as a rule, increase as the spayed 

 cow advances in the milk-giving period. Especially was this 



