166 FARM ANIMALS 
of small merit in the dairy herd. In many dairy herds 
there are cows that are useless as milk producers, Their 
production returns in money are less than the cost of 
keeping them. By means of milk scales and the Babcock 
tester incompetent ones may be determined and dis- 
carded. 
11. How often to milk——The custom of milking twice 
a day has become fixed, and no marked advantage is 
secured when the number of milkings is increased. Ex- 
perience and repeated tests show that three milkings a 
day increase the amount of milk secured less than 7 per 
cent. Considering the extra labor involved,.the extra 
milk obtained by three milkings will not repay the cost 
and trouble. 
12, What age of cow is 
best?—The- formation of 
milk is closely associated 
with the birth of the off- 
spring. Milk increases for 
several months after calv- 
ing, and may abruptly .or 
paieus Te CUBES gradually decrease, as the 
This is Sayda Queen of Vetmore. At 12 case may be. As a rule, 
years of aps she gave, 11400 pounds of fat increases slightly as the 
lactation period advances. 
The young heifer generally will give increasing amounts 
of milk with each succeeding calf until the sixth or 
seventh year, and remain near that point a féw years 
longer ; then the milk flow will gradually diminish. 
13. Quality of milk.—So far as the question can be 
decided, the influences that bear most on the quality of, 
milk are breed, heredity and inherent functional capacity. 
It used to be thought that the kind of food, the care of 
the cow and her surroundings influenced the quality of 
