326 



Cost of Food in Production of Milk. 



[SEPT., 



in the Fenwick district milk was being produced during January 

 and February, as well as in March, April, and May, as was the 

 case in Cumnock, where testing only began at the beginning of 

 March. Owing to the colder weather it is always more costly 

 to produce milk during January and February than during 

 March to May, and this probably accounts for the difference 

 in cost of production. 



It is worthy of notice that the herd giving the smallest yield 

 of milk is also the one on which the largest amount was Expended 

 in food. This herd did not produce more milk in mid-winter 

 than the others, so that the extra cost for food of each gallon 

 of milk produced, compared with the others, was not due to 

 the advanced period of lactation of the cows, as it might be, 

 but principally owing to the excessive cost of feeding, compared 

 with the capacity of the cows to yield milk. On this farm 

 an average of 11-5 lb. of meals and cakes was used per cow 

 per day, whereas the average of the others was 8*43 lb. While 

 it is well known that each pound of concentrated food up to a 

 certain weight per day may give a certain return in milk, each 

 pound over that will give less and less increase until there is 

 no gain at all, and if continued further, the quantity will not 

 only not increase, but may decrease. The owner of this herd 

 has the reputation of being a heavj^ feeder, and he seems to 

 have been using much the same quantity all the three seasons 

 for which the records have been kept. 



The details of the food used among the members of the 

 Fenwick No. 2 Milk Record Association are only available for 

 one season, viz., 1907, but, like the other Association in this 

 parish, they' extend from the New Year to the middle of May. 

 The results obtained are therefore comparable with those of 

 the No. 1 Association. In No. 1 Association each gallon of milk 

 produced cost 4-88^. for food, while in No. 2 the cost was 4- 56^., 

 a difference of fully a farthing per gallon. This is brought about 

 in the following way : in No. 1 Association the average yield 

 of milk per cow per day was ij lb. less than in No. 2, in spite 

 of the fact that about 1 lb. of meal and 1 lb. of bran were con- 

 sumed extra per cow per day. In this association there are 

 three herds which have produced milk at a cost for food of 

 from 3-14^. to 3 • 4^. per gallon, while there is one where the 

 outlay is as much as 6-63^. per gallon, which is just double 



