jot OF AMimRESBffl 
Vol. VIII Washington, D. C., January 8, 1917 No. 2 
EWES’ MILK: ITS FAT CONTENT AND RELATION TO THE 
GROWTH OF LAMBS 
By E. G. Ritzman, Animal Husbandman, New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment 
Station 
Incidental to the major lines of research in the sheep-breeding experi¬ 
ments carried on at this Station some observations were made on com¬ 
parative milk yields and tests of their fat content. The data on this sub¬ 
ject cover 6 distinct breeds 1 and 11 types of first-generation crosses of 
sheep which may properly be considered as nonmilk breeds. It is obvious 
that such data can not be obtained with a degree of reliability equal to 
that possible in animals kept for dairy purposes. While the data shown 
here can not be regarded as final, yet it is the belief that it does in the 
main express the existing state of conditions. It is therefore presented 
as a contribution to a subject on which information is very meager in the 
hope that it will attract attention to the importance of the milk-yielding 
characteristics of our early-maturing mutton breeds of sheep. The fact 
that the sale of good, early lamb is becoming one of the prime requisites 
of profit in sheep husbandry under average farm conditions emphasizes 
the necessity of selecting breeding ewes with some regard to their poten¬ 
tialities as milkers. 
While the fat content of ewes* milk has not been the subject of much 
research, the data available on the subject indicate that ewes’ milk has a 
much higher average of fat than cows’ milk. One of the interesting 
features of ewes’ milk suggested by these tests, however, is the great 
variation that exists between individuals of a breed and the variation in 
the milk of single individuals at different periods during lactation or dur¬ 
ing different lactation periods. 
There exists apparently very little difference in this respect between 
breeds which have been selected for large milk yields and those that are 
not bred especially for milk, including the more common English breeds 
and those of the Merino type. Of the former, Hucho (6) 2 gives the analy¬ 
ses of milk from three East Friesian ewes, showing the ranges, respec¬ 
tively, of 4.32 to 10.80, 4.35 to 7.50, and 4.15 to 7.38. Besana (1) gives 
9.50 as the average test of 176 samples f rom an Italian breed, the samples 
representing a period 21 days after lambing. 
1 Native sheep are here considered as a distinct breed. 
2 Reference is made by number to “literature cited,” p. 35-36. 
Journal of Agricultural Research, 
Washington, D. C. * 
gs 
Vol. VIII, No. a 
Jan. 8, 1917 
Key No. N. H.—2 
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