The Bacillus of Long Life / A Manual of the Preparation and Souring of Milk for Dietary Purposes, Together with an Historical Account of the Use of Fermented Milks, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, and Their Wonderful Effect in the Prolonging of Human Existence

by Loudon M. Douglas

CHAPTER IV

HANDLING OF MILK

MODERN DAIRY PRACTICE

As we have seen, the dairy industry is a very ancient one, and has been intimately associated with the development of civilisation.

Within historical times dairying has always formed a prominent feature in connection with agriculture, and the use of milk in one form or another has been common to every civilised nation.[42]

The greatest progress, however, in the study of milk has taken place since about the year 1890, at which time the dairy industry seems to have attracted the general attention of food specialists and scientific investigators throughout the world. Since then it has been considered worth while to enact laws in different countries with regard to the regulation and control of the milk supply.

Since 1903 there has been an International Dairy Federation formed, and it has held conferences at Brussels, Paris, The Hague, and Buda-Pest, and in 1911 it will hold a conference in Stockholm. The Federation was started in a very humble way in Brussels, and owes its origin, to a large extent, to a distinguished Belgian agriculturist, Baron Peers of Oostcamp, Bruges; but at the present day a general committee composed of representatives of nearly every civilised nation has been formed, and delegates from such countries attend the Congresses, which are held every two years. The literature which has arisen out of these International Congresses has been disseminated in different countries, and has been instrumental in placing the dairy industry on a thoroughly scientific basis.

Milk Supply of the United Kingdom.—The milk supply of the United Kingdom has steadily grown from year to year, and in relation to the population works out at fifteen gallons per head. The manner in which these figures are arrived at is shown in the following estimate:

The population of the United Kingdom is now about 45,500,000. The number of cows or heifers in calf or in milk in June, 1909, was 3,360,600; the number in 1910 was probably about 4,400,000.
Of these about 300,000 were heifers that had not yet produced any milk. The actual milking class, therefore, comprised about 4,100,000 cows and heifers; of these, about 600,000 were heifers that calved in the winter and spring of 1909-10, and 300,000 were heifers that calved in the summer and autumn of 1910. The number of cows that produced two or more calves may be taken to be about 3,200,000; of these about 600,000 should have produced their second calf in the winter and spring 1909-10, and would be milked as heifers in the summer and autumn of 1910; the number of mature cows from which a full season's supply of milk was obtained during the twelve months from June 5, 1909, to June 4, 1910, was apparently about 2,600,000. A large quantity of milk is yielded during the year by cows sold or lost during the twelve months before the census. Possibly ten per cent. of the milk produced in the twelve months from June, 1909, to June, 1910, was yielded by cows that were sold or lost before the census of June, 1910.
It is estimated that the 3,200,000 cows (including the 600,000 that up to the winter of 1909-10 were heifers) produced, on the average, 44 cwts. (480 gallons) of milk per head in the twelve months from June 5, 1909, to June 4, 1910; the 300,000 heifers that calved in the summer and autumn, 30 cwts. (330 gallons) per head; the 600,000 heifers that calved in the winter and spring of 1909-10, 15 cwts. (165 gallons), making the total quantity of milk produced in the twelve months by cows and heifers on the farms, and that produced calves during the twelve months (June, 1909-1910), 158,800,000 cwts. (1,746,800,000 gallons), or about 426 gallons per head, and about 400 gallons per head for all the cows and heifers in milk or in calf in 1910. There remains to add the milk yielded by the cows that were sold during the twelve months, and of cows and heifers in feeding pastures that were milked during the twelve months, June to June, 1909-10, and which probably formed one tenth of the whole supply, making the total supply for the twelve months 176,444,000 cwts., or 1,940,884,000 gallons. This equals 2 tons, or 440 gallons per head, crediting the whole supply to the 4,400,000 cows and heifers in milk or in calf in June, 1910. At 7-1/4d. per gallon the value of milk produced in the United Kingdom in the twelve months was £58,600,000. Including the value at birth of the calves, the total value of the produce of the milk-giving class would be about £62,000,000. The value of the milk, butter, cheese, and cream sold or consumed in farmhouses would be about £48,000,000, or equal to about 24 per cent. of the gross annual income of farmers.
The average consumption of new milk is about 15 gallons per head of the population. During the twelve months of 1911, the quantity required for this purpose will be about 682,500,000 gallons, or about 35 per cent. of the total supply; calves will require about 10 per cent. of the supply; the quantity available for butter and cheese will equal about 55 per cent. of the supply. [43]

The Milk Industry in the United States.—In the United States of America, where the habits of the people are somewhat analogous to those in the United Kingdom, it is estimated that the milk from five million cows is annually consumed, which averages twenty-five and one half gallons per year for each person, or equal to an ordinary sized tumblerful each day.[44]