Factors Affecting the total Butter-fat content of Cow's Milk during a period of two days

Abstract

Summary It was found possible in this experiment to increase the percentage of butter-fat in milk during a period of two days by leaving half of the milk in the udder during the milking prior to the two-day period. Although the average increase in percent of butter-fat was only 0.27, the data collected would seem to indicate that it is possible to get an increase of over 0.5 in percent of butter-fat. The highest fat percentage was not always reached at the milking following the partial milking. Out of the 27 trials there were 12 in which the highest fat percentage was reached the second milking after the partial milking. If in advanced registry work a practice was made of leaving a part of the milk in the udder prior to the two day test; our figures would indicate that such a practice could not be detected by a study of the cows milk record; since there was an average increase of only 0.766 pounds of milk for the period following the partial milking. The data collected in this experiment indicates that a preliminary milking is necessary as a measure in the safe-guarding of the honesty and accuracy of advanced registry testing.