1909.] Effect of Food on Milk Production. 



651 



tion of the quantity of milk upon which the frequency and 

 thoroughness of the abstraction of milk from the udder 

 exerts a very explicable influence is not so exactly carried out 

 that every slight lack of nourishment immediately acts on the 

 body of the milk-yielding animal. 



A certain margin is allowed in the amount of milk which 

 an animal can create, within which margin suitably com- 

 pounded additions to or deductions from fodder affect the 

 production of milk. When the nourishment does not furnish 

 enough material for the formation of milk, the reserve forces 

 of the body are drawn on. When the amount of food is 

 more than enough the production of milk does not keep 

 pace with the increase in the amount of nourishment, so that 

 finally the extreme limit of the productive capacity is reached, 

 and any further increase in the supply of food has no further 

 influence upon the amount of milk secreted. 



The limit of productive capacity depends upon the con- 

 dition of the milk gland, and this is, in a high degree, in- 

 fluenced by the breed, individuality, age, and period of 

 lactation of the animal. The aim of feeders, therefore, must 

 be to suit the amount of nourishment to the productive 

 capacity of the animal, i.e., the quantity and nature of the 

 food must be suited to each animal individually if the greatest 

 advantage is to be obtained. 



It is not conducive to the yielding capacity of the milk 

 gland to give a minimum quantity of albuminoids; on the 

 contrary, a certain superfluity should be provided. 



The carbohydrates, fat, &c, of fodder are essential for the 

 process of milk formation, since they represent the chief 

 material required for the creation of the milk sugar and milk 

 fat. If a sufficient quantity is not supplied in the fodder, then 

 the fat of the body will be requisitioned for the formation 

 of milk, and when this store is exhausted the milk production 

 will begin to fall off just as when albumen is wanting in the 

 fodder. 



The character of the fat in the food has an effect on the 

 composition of the milk fat. Certain foods, such as palm nut 

 cake, cocoanut cake, linseed cake, and cottonseed cake, give a 

 hard consistency to the butter, while oats, maize, wheat, 

 clover, rice fodder meal, rape cake, sesame, and sunflower seed 



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