a75 



lionour of hciujr the first to enter 

 liis hord, is I\Ir. F. J. Slaiunin-. 

 ol ri)nil)onK'it, who entered, cm 

 I Itii May, UMJ, his Ayrshiro W-vA. 

 llo was shortlv iollcnwd 1)\ 

 :\Iessrs. I'. I-;, keuiii and C. C. . 

 I. yon. 



There wvrc many other hreedeis 

 who, thonoh reali/inj; the bcnelils 

 to aecrne from liohlinj^- ollieial ro- 

 eords for their cattle, were, for 

 various reasons, unal)le to imme- 

 diately particijiate b}- entering 

 their herds. As the test covers a 

 jieriod of nine months, only those 

 cows which were entered prior to 

 October last can be considercil, 

 consequently only a small numlicr 

 have had an opportunity of quali- 

 fying for the certificate. 



The first samples were taken on 

 ;,rd July, 191 2, from the herd of 

 Mr. C. Gordon Lyon ; • and the 

 herds of IMessrs. Stansmore, Keam 

 and Read were tested soon after, 

 in the order mentionunl. Up to 

 the p'resent the butter fat yield 

 (completed or incomplete) of 180 

 cows is in the possession of the 

 Department, though this number 

 comprises only eipht herds of the 

 fifteen entered. The approximate 

 number of cows whi'rh will be test- 

 ed in the fifteen herds is 400. 

 Representat ves of most breeds 

 have been entered, viz., vTersey, 

 AATshire, Red Poll, Sho'rthom, and 

 Dexter Kerry, and the figures, 

 already on record indicate that no 

 one breed has quite a monopoly as 

 first-class butter producers. Up to 

 date sixty-two cows have com- 

 pleted their term-, and of these all 

 but seventeen qualified for the 

 certificate. The details of the 

 individual herds are given, from 

 which some interesting compari- 

 sons are shown. 



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Standard cows under these re- 

 gulations arc tho.se which, during 

 the ollieial lactation period, yield — 

 la) in the case of cows commenc- 

 ing their first lactation period and 

 l)eing then under 3 years of age, 

 i.Solbs. of l)Uttcr fat ; (b) in the 

 case of cows commencing their 

 first lactation i>criod an(l being 

 then over years of age, 2<x) lbs. 

 of butter fat ; (c) in the case of 

 cows of any age commeiicing any 

 lactation period other than the 

 first, 20't) lbs. of butter fat. 



♦ ■ 



The Effect of Watery Foods 

 on Milk. 



In summarizing a number of 

 experiments on the effect of 

 watery foods on the milk flow in 

 dairy cattle and the sometimes 

 connicting results the Board of 

 Agriculture report that : — 



On examining and comparing the 

 conclusions drawn from the vari- 

 ous experiments there are several 

 points which appear to emeree. 

 The general view of those who 

 have studied the subiect seems" to 

 be that excess of drinking water 

 does not appear to have any ef- 

 fect yhatever upon either the quan- 

 tity or quality of milk. Tt seems, 

 therefore, imreasonable to expect 

 water administered in any other 

 form to have any effect on the 

 yield and composition of milk. 

 The experitnents cited show that 

 there are certain watery foods 

 Csiich as roots) which appear to 

 have no very pronounced ef?ect on 

 the milk, while others, such as 

 pumpkins, reduce the secretion ma- 

 terially. Still others (brewers' 

 grains) have, bv general consent, 

 a marked stimulating effect. Tt 

 wotild appear, then, that 'the 

 water content of the food as such 

 has but little influence on either 

 the quantity or aiialitv of the 

 milk. Tt IS one or mor^^ of the 

 other ino-redients of the food — not 

 necessariU' nutrients in the ordin- 

 ary sense — which are 'responsible 

 for thp variation in the output 

 and fat content of the milk. Tt 

 is pointed out that ,br^w=rs' "rains 

 micfht have a physioloo'l'^al effect re- 

 sultme in increased flow. This is 

 an inportant conception worthy of 

 further attention. 



Tn the exoeriment on the use of 

 molassps as a condiment it was 

 concluded that molasses contained 

 materials which. ppart from 

 their nutritive value, had a con- 

 siderable effect on vnilk secretion. 

 Further, it is concluded that the 

 specific effect, of a food varies 



with sneli circumstances as the 

 composition of other ingredients 

 with wliuli it is employed,, and, 

 it is (i) That many feeding stuffs 

 have a specific effect on the yield 

 and (piality of milk ; and (2) that 

 this effect is to be attributed to 

 .stimulafing sul)stanocs in the food 

 — substances which have physiolo- 

 gical rather than nutritive effects, 

 and which are present in foods 

 in small quantities onlv. 



As has already been pointed out, 

 it js diflicult to eliminate factors 

 other than the one the effect of 

 which it is desired to investigate. 

 The water in the food may be as- 

 sociated with substances which 

 produce physiological effects re- 

 sulting in an increa.sed yield of 

 milk, but care must be taken not 

 to attribute such an increase to 

 the influence of the water in the 

 food. This mistake appears to be 

 largely responsible for the very 

 conflicting views which obtain. 



♦ 



Effect of Change of Pasture 

 and Feed on Milk 

 Production. 



The dairy herd on the Ruakura 

 CN.Zi.) Farm received, in addition 

 to pasture grass, a liberal supply 

 of forage in the form of chou 

 m_oellier, millet, peas, and maize, 

 from the new vear until Ma'rch 

 27th. It was then found that the 

 milk yield had commenced to de- 

 crease very rapidly. The cows 

 which were nearing the end of 

 their lactation period were taken 

 from the pasture field and confined 

 tares. Both yield of milk and 

 in a field of green barley and 

 butter-fat content were consider- 

 ably increased : — ^3\Iilk yield for 

 week previous to removal to tares 

 and barley, per cow, iiSOis. Per- 

 centage of butter fat, 4.5. Milk 

 yield for second week, on tares 

 and barley, 15 7 11-) s. Percentage of 

 butter fat, 5.0. It is stated that 

 the weather was cooler during the 

 period when the cows were on the 

 barley and tares than it had been 

 previou.slv, and this was also a 

 factor which influenced the yield 

 of milk and fat to some extent. 



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