520 



Milk of Newly-Calved Cows. 



[dec, 



A drying shed of the same size as this one can be erected for 

 about £150, and the Board of Agriculture have recognized sheds 

 of this description as improvements coming within the terms 

 of the Improvement of Lands Acts, and for which, therefore, 

 they may sanction a charge on the estate. 



The result is that a proprietor is enabled to obtain the full 

 sum necessary to erect a drying shed on the usual conditions 

 that the principal with interest is repaid within a specified term 

 not exceeding twenty years. 



A yearly payment of about fy would thus be all a farmer 

 would require to pay for a drying shed of this size, which sum 

 he would more than save in thatch and ropes alone, irrespective 

 of the many other advantages already mentioned. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH THE MILK OF NEWLY-CALVED 



COWS. 



Professor Douglas A. Gilchrist, M.Sc. 



During the past summer experiments with the milk of newly- 

 calved cows have been made at Offerton Hall, the Dairy 

 Research Station for County Durham, which is controlled 

 by Armstrong College, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The main 

 object has been to ascertain the period after calving at which 

 the milk of newly-calved cows may be sold as normal milk. 

 This work has been done at the request of the Board of Agri- 

 culture in connection with a question arising out of a prose- 

 cution for milk adulteration, the point being whether the liquid 

 known as colostrum could properly be sold as milk. (See 

 Journal, vol. xiii, July, 1906, p. 249.) 



Colostrum and " biestings " are the names usually given 

 to the milk of newly -calved cows. Colostrum has a rich yellow 

 colour and is considerably more viscid than ordinary milk. 

 It is easily coagulated by heat, owing to the large amount of 

 albumen it contains. Only a small amount of albumen is 

 present in milk. Occasionally the colostrum is reddish in 

 colour owing to the presence of blood. 



Samples of the milk of newly -calved cows were collected by- 

 Mr. J. McLaren, Junr., the superintendent of the station, and 

 forwarded to Mr. S. H. Collins, M.Sc, F.C.S., Lecturer in Agri- 

 cultural Chemistry at Armstrong College. The results of Mr. 

 Collins's analyses of these milks are given in the tables below. 



