1904.] Milk Investigations at Garforth. 167 



liable to enormous variation from time to time from causes 

 which are unknown. {&) The proportion of solids-not-fat is 

 fairly constant in the milk of any individual cow, but varies 

 much with different animals, (c) The yield in the morning is 

 greater than that in the evening. Morning milk, further, is 

 much poorer in fat, but usually slightly richer in solids-not- 

 fat than evening milk. The differences are, however, very 

 considerably less when the intervals between consecutive 

 milkings are equal, (d) The mixed morning milk of a dairy 

 Shorthorn herd may often contain less than 3 per cent, of fat 

 during summer or early autumn if the milking be performed 

 at the usual unequal intervals, (e) Provided the cows are 

 receiving liberal rations, variations in the nature of the food 

 supplied have little influence on the milk secretion. So far 

 as any change is effected, it would appear that foods rich in 

 albuminoids {e.g., gluten meal) slightly improve both the yield 

 of milk and the proportion of fat and solids-not-fat, at least for a 

 time ; whilst large quantities of carbohydrates, though increasing 

 the yield somewhat, cause a slight deterioration in quality. 

 (f) Concentrated food supplied liberally in the morning increases 

 the fat-content of the morning milk. (§) Milk secreted in 

 different portions of the udder may differ considerably in com- 

 position, both in fat and solids-not-fat, the variations being most 

 significant in the case of the latter, since the lowest proportion 

 was generally found in the milk yielded by one particular 

 quarter — the left fore-quarter. 



In accordance with the foregoing results, Dr. Crowther is of 

 opinion that an improvement in the quality of the morning milk 

 can be effected mainly by (1) equalising the periods between 

 successive milkings, and (2) by supplying concentrated, highly 

 nitrogenous food liberally at the morning meal. The first of 

 these alternatives is stated to be decidedly the more effective, 

 and it should be adopted wherever possible. 



The more recent investigations refer particularly to the 

 enriching influence of highly nitrogenous food, and to the effect 

 on the milk secretion of distributing the concentrated food 

 between the morning and evening meals. Full details of the 

 experiments are given in the Transactions, which also con- 

 tain tabular statements and diagrams explaining the work in 



