| In 1897, 30 cows averaged | 6396 ℔, or | 640 gallons per cow. |
| In 1898, 29 ” ” | 6209 ” | 621 ” ” |
| In 1899, 37 ” ” | 6430 ” | 643 ” ” |
| In 1900, 39 ” ” | 6136 ” | 614 ” ” |
The average over the four years works out at about 630 gallons per cow per annum.
Cows of larger type will give more milk than the Jerseys, but it is less rich in fat. The milk record for the year 1900 of the herd of Red Polled cattle belonging to Mr Garrett Taylor, Whitlingham, Norfolk, affords a good example. The cows in the herd, which had before 1900 produced one or more calves, and in 1900 added another to the list, being in full profit the greater part of the year, numbered 82. Their total yield was 521,950 ℔ of milk, or an average of 6365 ℔—equivalent to about 636 gallons—per cow. In 1899 the average yield of 96 cows was 6283 ℔ or 628 gallons; in 1898 the average yield of 75 cows was 6473 ℔ or 647 gallons. Of cows which dropped a first calf in the autumn of 1899, one of them—Lemon—milked continuously for 462 days, yielding a total of 7166 ℔ of milk, being still in milk when the herd year closed on the 27th of December. Similar cases were those of Nora, which gave 9066 ℔ of milk in 455 days; Doris, 8138 ℔ in 462 days; Brisk, 9248 ℔ in 469 days; Della, 8806 ℔ in 434 days, drying 28 days before the year ended; and Lottie, 6327 ℔ in 394 days, also drying 28 days before the year ended; these were all cows with their first calf. Eight cows in the herd gave milk on every day of the 52 weeks, and 30 others had their milk recorded on 300 days or more. Three heifers which produced a first calf before the 11th of April 1900, averaged in the year 4569 ℔ of milk, or about 456 gallons. In 1900 three cows, Eyke Jessie, Kathleen and Doss, each gave over 10,000 ℔, or 1000 gallons of milk; four cows gave from 9000 ℔ to 10,000 ℔, two from 8000 ℔ to 9000 ℔, 17 from 7000 ℔ to 8000 ℔, 19 from 6000 ℔ to 7000 ℔, 30 from 5000 ℔ to 6000 ℔, and 16 from 4000 ℔ to 5000 ℔. The practice, long followed at Whitlingham, of developing the milk-yielding habit by milking a young cow so long as she gives even a small quantity of milk daily, is well supported by the figures denoting the results.
Though milking trials and butter tests are not usually available to the ordinary dairy farmer in the management of his herd, it is, on the other hand, a simple matter for him to keep what is known as a milk register. By a milk register is meant a record of the quantity of milk yielded by a cow. In other words, it is a quantitative estimation of the milk the cow gives. It affords no information as to the quality of the milk or as to its butter-yielding or cheese-yielding capacity. Nevertheless, by its aid the milk-producing capacity of a cow can be ascertained exactly, and her character in this respect can be expressed by means of figures about which there need be no equivocation. A greater or less degree of exactness can be secured, according to the greater or less frequency with which the register is taken. Even a weekly register would give a fair idea as to the milk yields of a cow, and would be extremely valuable as compared with no register at all.
The practice of taking the milk register, as followed in a well-known dairy, may be briefly described. The cows are always milked in the stalls, and during summer they are brought in twice a day for this purpose. After each cow is milked, the pail containing the whole of her milk is hung on a spring balance suspended in a convenient position, and from the gross weight indicated there is deducted the already known weight of the pail.[1] The difference, which represents the weight of milk, is recorded in a book suitably ruled. This book when open presents a view of one week’s records. In the left-hand column are the names of the cows; on the right of this are fourteen columns, two of which receive the morning and evening record of each cow. In a final column on the right appears the week’s total yield for each cow; and space is also allowed for any remarks. Fractions of a pound are not entered, but 18 ℔ 12 oz. would be recorded as 19 ℔, whereas 21 ℔ 5 oz. would appear as 21 ℔, so that a fraction of over half a pound is considered as a whole pound, and a fraction of under half a pound is ignored. By dividing the pounds by 10 the yield in gallons is readily ascertained.
Every dairy farmer has some idea, as to each of his cows, whether she is a good, a bad or an indifferent milker, but such knowledge is at best only vague. By the simple means indicated the character of each cow as a milk-producer is slowly but surely recorded in a manner which is at once exact and definite. Such a record is particularly valuable to the farmer, in that it shows to him the relative milk-yielding capacities of his cows, and thus enables him gradually to weed out the naturally poor milkers and replace them by better ones. It also guides him in regulating the supply of food according to the yield of milk. The register will, in fact, indicate unerringly which are the best milk-yielding cows in the dairy, and which therefore are, with the milking capacity in view, the best to breed from.
The simplicity and inexpensiveness of the milk register must not be overlooked. These are features which should commend it especially to the notice of small dairy farmers, for with a moderate number of cows it is particularly easy to introduce the register. But even with a large dairy it will be found that, as soon as the system has got fairly established, the additional time and trouble involved will sink into insignificance when compared with the benefits which accrue.
The importance of ascertaining not only the quantity, but also the quality of milk is aptly illustrated in the case of two cows at the Tring show, 1900. The one cow gave in 24 hours 412 gallons of milk, which at 7d. per gallon would work out at about 2s. 7d.; she made 2 ℔ 12 oz. of butter, which at 1s. 4d. per ℔ would bring in 3s. 8d.; consequently by selling the milk the owner lost about 1s. 1d. per day. The second cow gave 513 gallons of milk, which would work out at 3s. 1d.; she made 1 ℔ 12 oz. of butter, which would only be worth 2s. 4d., so that by converting the milk into butter the owner lost 9d. per day.
The colour of milk is to some extent an indication of its quality—the deeper the colour the better the quality. The colour depends upon the size of the fat globules, a deep yellowish colour indicating large globules of fat. When the globules are of large size the milk will churn more readily, and the butter is better both in quality and in colour.
The following fifty dairy rules relating to the milking and general management of cows, and to the care of milk and dairy utensils, were drawn up on behalf of, and published by, the United States department of agriculture at Washington. They are given here with a few merely verbal alterations:—
The Owner and his Helpers
- 1. Read current dairy literature and keep posted on new ideas.
- 2. Observe and enforce the utmost cleanliness about the cattle, their attendants, the cow-house, the dairy and all utensils.
- 3. A person suffering from any disease, or who has been exposed to a contagious disease, must remain away from the cows and the milk.
The Cow-House
- 4. Keep dairy cattle in a shed or building by themselves. It is preferable to have no cellar below and no storage loft above.
- 5. Cow-houses should be well ventilated, lighted and drained; should have tight floors and walls, and be plainly constructed.
- 6. Never use musty or dirty litter.
- 7. Allow no strong-smelling material in the cow-house for any length of time. Store the manure under cover outside the cow-house, and remove it to a distance as often as practicable.
- 8. Whitewash the cow-house once or twice a year; use gypsum in the manure gutters daily.
- 9. Use no dry, dusty feed just previous to milking; if fodder is dusty, sprinkle it before it is fed.
- 10. Clean and thoroughly air the cow-house before milking; in hot weather sprinkle the floor.
- 11. Keep the cow-house and dairy room in good condition, and then insist that the dairy, factory or place where the milk goes be kept equally well.
- ↑ A portable milk-weighing appliance is made in which the weight of the pail is included, and an indicator shows on a dial the exact weight in pounds and ounces, and likewise the volume in gallons and pints, of the milk in the pail. When the pail is empty the indicator of course points to zero.
