DIURESIS AND MILK FLOW 
By H. Steenbock, 
Assistant Chemist , Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of Wisconsin 
INTRODUCTION 
In studying the comparative efficiency of the nitrogen of alfalfa hay 
(Medicago sativa) and com grain (Zea mays) for milk production, data 
were accumulated and published from this laboratory which suggested 
that alfalfa hay when fed in large amounts often acts as a diuretic and 
thus depresses the volume of milk flow. 1 While this relation was not 
found with all the experimental animals (cows), it was, nevertheless, 
deemed of sufficient importance to merit the study of the influence of 
specific diuretics on milk flow, as it was barely possible that the diuresis 
which was produced upon the feeding of alfalfa hay was not in itself 
responsible for the depression of mammary activity. 
In view of the importance which hitherto unknown constituents of 
diets and rations have lately assumed, it is of the greatest interest to 
dissect the various factors normally operative in the animal body when 
feeding any of our ordinary rations. Dairy chemists have spent much 
time and effort in studying the various factors which influence the 
secretion of milk and its composition. It seemed not improbable that if 
any of the well-known diuretics were.able to influence milk secretion the 
means to vary the proportion of individual constituents might also be at 
hand. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH DIURETICS ON GOATS 
Two goats in full milk flow were used as the experimental animals. 
They were individually confined in metabolism cages which made possi¬ 
ble the separate quantitative collection of urine and feces. They were 
fed and milked twice a day, the milk of two consecutive milkings being 
composited for analysis and measurement of volume. Careful measure 
of the water consumed and urine voided was recorded. Control of the 
ration consumed was kept only to the extent that results obtained could 
not possibly be due to variation in food intake. Goat i, weighing 95 
pounds, was fed daily a ration consisting of 2 pounds of oats (Avena 
sativa ), 0.5 pound of June-grass hay (Poa pratensis) t 60 gm. of air-dried 
casein, 1 pound of fresh sugar beets (Beta vulgaris ), and 2 gm. of com¬ 
mon salt (sodium chlorid). This provided sufficient energy and a suffi- 
1 Hart, E. B. f Humphrey, G. C., Willaman, J. J., and Lamb, A. R. The comparative efficiency for 
milk production of the nitrogen of alfalfa hay and the com grain. Preliminary observations on the effect 
of diuresis on milk secretion. In Jour. Biol. Chem., v. 19, no. 1, p. 127-140. 1914. 
(561) 
Journal of Agricultural Research, 
Dept, of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 
bg 
Vol. V, No. is 
Dec. 27, 191 s 
Wis .—2 
