990 



The Feeding of Farm Stock. 



[march, 



yielding animal requires, in addition to the ration which 

 would " maintain " it were there no secretion of milk, a supply 

 of food which must be greater the more abundant the milk- 

 flow, and which must include a liberal proportion of digestible 

 albuminoids. 



The ration of the milk-producing animal mav thus be 

 regarded as made up of two portions — a maintenance portion 

 which will vary according to the size of the animal, and a 

 milk-producing portion which will vary according to the milk- 

 yield. Up to a certain point, which varies greatly in different 

 individuals of the same class, any food placed at the disposal 

 of the animal beyond the minimum necessary for maintenance 

 is utilised very economically for purposes of milk-production. 

 When the food-supply is steadily increased, however, the 

 point referred to is reached sooner or later, beyond which there 

 is an increasing tendency for additional food to promote 

 fattening rather than to increase the flow of milk. Eventually 

 the limit is arrived at beyond which no higher yield of milk 

 can be obtained by increasing the food-supply. In these 

 higher stages of milk-production the cost of production 

 steadily increases and must be the determining factor in 

 deciding what is the most profitable yield to aim at. 



The percentage composition of the milk yielded by a par- 

 ticular animal is largely independent of the nature of the 

 food supplied. Provided that the ration is such that it main- 

 tains the milk-yield and general "condition" of the animal, 

 the composition of the milk can in general be but little 

 affected by changes in the nature of the foods included in the 

 ration. Even in the case of under-feeding, the composition of 

 the milk is, as a rule, but little affected until the condition of 

 the animal has been very seriously reduced. Little reliance 

 can be placed, therefore, upon the claims advanced on 

 behalf of certain foods, that they exercise a specific influence 

 upon the composition of the milk. The commonest of such 

 foods are malt coombs, palm-nut cake, and cocoanut cake — 

 all of which are said to exercise a specific beneficial effect upon 

 the quality of the milk. There is good evidence that this is 

 true to a limited extent of the two cakes mentioned. 



A further exception ought perhaps to be made of the 

 case of very watery foods, such as turnips or brewers' grains, 



