Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 192, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 August 1911 — Capacity in Dairy Cows [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Capacity in Dairy Cows

By P. H. CRANE

A Holstein Cow Showing Capacity as “Milk Veins’* and Udder—-Colantha No. 12893—Purdue Herd.

The dairy cow is a machine with a double function. One function is to change raw materials of a comparative low selling value, into an article of high commercial value, leaving on .the farm the by-products which contain a large percentage of the fertilizing elements originally found in the raw material. The other function of this machine is to reproduce her kind. These two functions are very closely related, one being dependent upon the other. The value of each individual cow, so far as her producing ability is concerned, depends largely upon her capacity throughout, as the correction of organs that have a part in the processes of the manufacture of milk and butterfat, makes it evident that the animal must be well proportioned. A large udder without capacity of barrel and other parts essential to the digestion and circulation will not make the cow as good a producer as" Indicated by her udder alone. If a large yield of milk and butterfat is expected, the cow must have the capacity of mastication and digestion to take care of a sufficiently large quantity of feed to maintain her and furnish the required nutrients for milk production. Along with this capacity of mastication and digestion, indicated by a large muzzle and jaw, and a capacious barrel, there must be a circulatory system of sufficient capacity to

Associate in MUk Projection. ParJue Experiment Station Par Jim University Agricultural Extension

Indicated by Muzzle, Jaw, Barrel, Bakker Fourth, No. 57816, A. R. O.

carry the nutrients to the udder where the real process of milk secretion is carried on. The amount of circulation is indicated largely by the size and character of "milk veins’* and “milk wells,” or the veins on the cow’s belly that carry the blood from the udder to the heart, and the size of the openings in the body wall through which the veins pass. The yield of milk and butterfat depends also upon capacity of secretory glands located in 'the udder, so that it is very important that the cow have & large r well-shaped udder of the proper character —that is, not too fleshy. The difference in the profits derived from two dairy cows may very frequently be accounted for by difference in, the capacity of these two animals. The one with small capacity may be able to take care of a quantity of feed sufficient for maintenance and the production of a small quantity of milk, enough to pay for her feed, but that is her limit and she has only reached the point where the profits should begin. ’The. other cow can take in more feed and as a result has nutrients left above maintenance to be made into milk, overhand above that quantity produced by the first cow, consequently a profit is made. Experiments have shown that greater capacity in ohr dairy cows, other conditions being of similar character, means larger profits.