33 



milk; and should we take a vote of the farmers 

 before us to-day, I think, without a doubt, a large 

 majority would be on the affirmative side of the ques- 

 tion. Nevertheless, I propose to take the negative 

 side, and say that the average per cent, of butter fat 

 can not be perceptibly increased in the milk of a cow 

 that is well fed and cared for, by a change of feed. 



I am ready to acknowledge that more butter can be 

 produced by a change in feed, but where this is the 

 case there is also an increase in the flow of milk, and" 

 there are cases where the percentage of fat has been 

 increased for a day or two by a change of feed, but it 

 soon drops back to the normal condition ; there is 

 always, however, an increase in percentage of fat as 

 the period of lactation advances ; this varies with dif- 

 ferent cows, regardless of feed. 



In this connection allow me to introduce the opinion 

 of men of national reputation, brought out by 

 The Rural New Yorker, July 18, 1891, under the 

 headings, " Feeding Pail, or Parent," " Is Quality Bred 

 or Fed Into a Cow." 



1. Take a good milch cow fed upon a generous and 

 well-balanced ration, can any subsequent feeding of 

 selected foods increase the per cent, of fat in her 

 milk ? 



2. If an increase of fat results, will there not be an 

 increase in the other solids and a corresponding 

 increase of fluid, so that it is really the same class of 

 milk? 



3. If we can feed quality into milk, can not any big 

 milking cow be made to answer for the butter dairy ? 



S. M. Babcock, Madison, Wis., says : 

 " My opinion is that the quality of milk so far as it is 

 measured by the per cent, of fat depends almost entirelv 



