Milking.—The cows are usually milked twice a day; occasionally, when the highest possible yield is desired, as in important tests, three or four times. The first five days after the birth of the calf the milk,—the Colostrum so called,—is not normal and should not be used for human consumption. It may be fed to the calf. The first three to four months the yield of milk generally is higher than later, when it gradually drops until after about ten months it stops altogether and the cow goes “dry” at least for some six weeks before dropping the next calf. The highest annual yield may be obtained by having the cows “come in” in the Fall or early Winter and feeding them well all Winter to keep up an abundant flow of milk. Then, when they come out on pasture in the Spring,—in the latitude of the Great Lakes about May 15th,—the fresh, rich feed will stimulate production and give it a fresh start so that the milk-pail may continue to be filled during the next few months and the shrinkage of the yield will not occur until the time when the pastures dry up. The cow will then go dry in the early Fall, when feed is scarce. Usually, however, the cows are allowed to “come in” in the Spring and the yield of milk begins to shrink in the late Summer with little or nothing in the Winter.
Milking on a Danish farm
Test the Cows.—To ascertain if a cow pays for her feed the amount and the quality of the milk should be tested and computed for the year. If the milk from each cow cannot be weighed every day it may be done regularly once a month or preferably oftener. If it is weighed morning and evening once every ten days it is easy to keep the account by multiplying the number of pounds by ten and adding the totals for the year. Occasionally the milk may be subjected to the Babcock Test to ascertain its richness; three or four times during the period of lactation is sufficient.
Where farmers do not have time to do the testing themselves they often combine and hire a young man or woman, trained in an agricultural college, to go around from farm to farm and do the work. These experts not only test the yield and the percentage of fat but also weigh and compute the feed so as to help the farmer make up his rations and calculate whether each cow pays for her feed or not. The members of these associations meet and compare notes and a friendly rivalry is stimulated which may do much toward increasing production. As a matter of fact, where Cow Test Associations have been introduced, both yield and quality of the milk have been largely increased.
Dr. Bernhard Bang of Copenhagen, Denmark
Healthy Cows alone can be depended upon to produce sanitary milk. In many herds of milk-cows tuberculosis is prevalent, and constant vigilance is necessary to prevent its spread. The Tuberculin Test discovered by Koch is invaluable for the purpose of ascertaining the presence of tuberculosis. It is not necessary, however, to kill every infected animal. Only where the lungs or the udder is affected and a physical examination shows an advanced stage of the disease such radical means are advisable. When the tuberculin test was first introduced many valuable herds were wantonly and foolishly killed off because some of the highly developed dairy cows showed reaction to the test while worthless scrubs were allowed to live and spread the disease. For only the intelligent and public-spirited owners of fine herds submitted their cows to the test, a reaction to which, under ill-advised regulations, permitted state officials to condemn the infected herds. In Denmark Dr. Bernhard Bang introduced a system of isolation of the infected animals which together with Compulsory Pasteurization of the milk from such cows has proved efficient for the eradication of tuberculosis, and the Bang Method is now generally recognized as the proper way of handling the matter.
COMPOSITION OF COW’S MILK
Cow’s milk contains on an average in 100 lbs.: