newly-calved cows brought into the herd each month shows
that the results as above stated were perfectly distinct,
independently of any influence of the period of lactation of the
different individuals of the herd.
The few results which have been brought forward in relation to milk-production are admittedly quite insufficient adequately to illustrate the influence of variation in the quantity and composition of the food on the quantity and composition of the milk yielded. Indeed, owing to the intrinsic difficulties of experimenting on such a subject, involving so many elements of variation, any results obtained have to be interpreted with much care and reservation. Nevertheless, it may be taken as clearly indicated that, within certain limits, high feeding, and especially high nitrogenous feeding, does increase both the yield and the richness of the milk.[1] But it is evident that when high feeding is pushed beyond a comparatively limited range, the tendency is to increase the weight of the animal—that is, to favour the development of the individual, rather than to enhance the activity of the functions connected with the reproductive system. This is, of course, a disadvantage when the object is to maintain the milk-yielding condition of the animal; but when a cow is to be fattened off it will be otherwise.
It has been stated that, early in the period of six years in which the Rothamsted results that have been quoted were obtained, the amount of oil-cake given was graduated according to the yield of milk of each individual cow; as it seemed unreasonable that an animal yielding, say, only 4 quarts per day, should receive, beside the home foods, as much cake as one yielding several times the quantity. The obvious inference is, that any excess of food beyond that required for sustenance and milk-production would tend to increase the weight of the animal, which, according to the circumstances, may or may not be desirable.
It may be observed that direct experiments at Rothamsted confirm the view, arrived at by common experience, that roots, and especially mangel, have a favourable effect on the flow of milk. Further, the Rothamsted experiments have shown that a higher percentage of butter-fat, of other solids, and of total solids, was obtained with mangel than with silage as the succulent food. The yield of milk was, however, in a much greater degree increased by grazing than by any other change in the food; and at Rothamsted the influence of roots comes next in order to that of grass, though far behind it, in this respect. But with grazing, as has been shown, the percentage composition of the milk is considerably reduced; though, owing to the greatly increased quantity yielded, the amount of soil-constituents removed in the milk when cows are grazing may nevertheless be greater per head per day than under any other conditions. Lastly, it has been clearly illustrated how very much greater is the demand upon the food, especially for nitrogenous and for mineral constituents, in the production of milk than in that of fattening increase.
Manurial Value of Food consumed in the Production of Milk
In any attempt to estimate the average value of the manure derived from the consumption of food for the production of milk, the difficulty arising from the very wide variation in the amount of milk yielded by different cows, or by the same cow at different periods of her lactation, is increased by the inadequate character of information concerning the difference in the amount of the food actually consumed by the animal coincidently with the production of such different amounts of milk. But although information is lacking for correlating, with numerical accuracy, the great difference in milk-yield of individual cows with the coincident differences in consumption to produce it, it may be considered as satisfactorily established that more food is consumed by a herd of cows to produce a fair yield of milk, of say 10 or 12 quarts per head per day, than by an equal live-weight of oxen fed to produce fattening increase. In the cases supposed it may, for practical purposes, be assumed that the cows would consume about one-fourth more food than the oxen. Accordingly, in the Rothamsted estimates of the value of the manure obtained on the consumption of food for the production of milk, it is assumed that one-fourth more will be consumed by 1000 ℔ live-weight of cows than by the same weight of oxen; but the estimates of the amounts of the constituents of the food removed in the milk, or remaining for manure, are nevertheless reckoned per ton of each kind of food consumed, as in the case of those relating to feeding for the production of fattening increase. It may be added that the calculations of the amounts of the constituents in the milk are based on the same average composition of milk as is adopted in the construction of Table V. Thus the nitrogen is taken at 0.579 (= 3.65 nitrogenous substance)%, the phosphoric acid at 0.2175%, and the potash at 0.1875% in the milk.
Table VIII. shows in detail the estimate of the amount of nitrogen in one ton of each food, and in the milk produced from its consumption, on the assumption of an average yield of 10 quarts per head per day; also the amount remaining for manure, the amount of ammonia corresponding to the nitrogen, and the value of the ammonia at 4d. per ℔. Similar particulars are also given in relation to the phosphoric acid and the potash consumed in the food, removed in the milk, and remaining for manure, &c. This table will serve as a sufficient illustration of the mode of estimating the total or original value of the manure, derived from the consumption of the different foods for the production of milk in the case supposed; that is, assuming an average yield of a herd of 10 quarts per head per day.
In Table IX. are given the results of similar detailed calculations of the total or original manure-value (as in Table VIII. for 10 quarts), on the alternative assumptions of a yield of 6, 8, 12 or 14 quarts per head per day. For comparison there is also given, in the first column, the estimate of the total or original manure-value when the foods are consumed for the production of fattening increase.
So much for the plan and results of the estimations of total or original manure-value of the different foods, that is, deducting only the constituents removed in the milk, and reckoning the remainder at the prices at which they can be purchased in artificial manures. With a view to direct application to practice, however, it is necessary to estimate the unexhausted manure-value of the different foods, or what may be called their compensation-value, after they have been used for a series of years by the outgoing tenant and he has realized a certain portion of the manure-value in his increased crops. In the calculations for this purpose the rule is to deduct one-half of the original manure-value of the food used the last year, and one-third of the remainder each year to the eighth, in the case of all the more concentrated foods and of the roots—in fact, of all the foods in the list excepting the hays and the straws. For these, which contain larger amounts of indigestible matter, and the constituents of which will be more slowly available to crops, two-thirds of the original manure-value is deducted for the last year, and only
- ↑ The evidence on this point taken by the Committee on Milk and Cream Regulations in 1900 is somewhat conflicting. The report states that an impression commonly prevails that the quality of milk is more or less determined by the nature and composition of the food which the cow receives. One witness said that farmers who produce milk for sale feed differently from what they do if they are producing for butter. Another stated that most of the statistics which go to show that food has no effect on milk fail, because the experiments are not carried far enough to counterbalance that peculiarity of the animal first to utilize the food for itself before utilizing it for the milk. A witness who kept a herd of 100 milking cows expressed the opinion that improvement in the quality of milk can be effected by feeding, though not to any large extent. On the other hand, it was maintained that the fat percentage in the milk of a cow cannot be raised by any manner or method of feeding. It is possible that in the case of cows very poorly fed the addition of rich food would alter the composition of their milk, but if the cows are well-fed to begin with, this would not be so. The proprietor of a herd of 500 milking cows did not think that feeding affected the quality of milk from ordinarily well-kept animals. An experimenter found that the result of resorting to rather poor feeding was that the first effect was produced upon the weight of the cow and not upon the milk; the animal began to get thin, losing its weight, though there was not very much effect upon the quality of the milk.
