THE COMPOSITION OF PRE-MILK AND COLOSTRUM OF DAIRY COWS
OF THE PEDIGREE SAHIWAL HERD AT THE IMPERIAL
AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE, NEW DELHI*
By S. K. MUKHERJEE, K. SWAMINATHAN and B. VISWANATH
Imperial Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi
(Received for publication on 1 November 1943)
ONE of the practices in the management of the
Sahiwal Herd at this Institute is to premilk
heifers and cows about to calve. It is usually
done for a period of 5 to 15 days before the
animals are due to calve.
The milk thus
obtained is called premilk; it is yellowish in
colour and thick.
It is not mixed with the
normal milk, but is used in the feeding of
calves.
Two or three instances occurred in which
heifers began to develop udders and to yield
milk, even before they were put to the bull.
The quantity of the premilk ranged from 5 to
15 lbs. per day.
An instance is that of heifer
No. 769 which was born on 18th March 1936
and was put to the bull on 29th June 1938.
This heifer was giving milk even before she was
put to the bull. The milk resembled normal
milk in physical appearance. In chemical com-
position also it was similar to normal milk as
can be seen from the analytical data given
in Table I.
TABLE I
Total solids
.
.
.
.
Fat
.
.
.
.
.
Acidity
.
.
.
.
.
Lactose
.
.
.
.
.
Total Protein
.
.
.
.
Casein
.
.
.
.
.
Albumin and Globulin . .
Coagulation test . . .
Ash
.
.
.
.
.
Sp. gravity
.
.
.
.
Heifer No. 769
13th July
14.0
4.8
0.13
5.1
3.4
2.7
0.7
no
0.67
1.029
14th July
14.2
5.0
0.12
4.6
3.4
2.7
0.7
no
0.67
1.029
Heifer No. 776
10th June
14.1
4.3
0.20
5.1
3.2
2.8
0.4
no
. .
. .
15th June
14.7
5.1
0.21
5.2
3.1
2.6
0.5
no
. .
. .
20th June
14.0
4.5
0.17
5.2
3.1
2.6
0.5
no
. .
. .
13th July
14.9
5.0
0.19
5.4
3.0
2.5
0.5
no
. .
. .
14th July
14.5
5.1
0.18
5.0
3.1
2.6
0.5
no
. .
. .
There was another heifer (No. 776) which was
born on 10th June 1936 and was put to the bull
on 25th December 1937. This heifer began to
give from the 5th or the 6th month of gestation
secretions which were in all appearance like
normal milk and analysed like normal milk, as
can be seen from the results given in Table I
above.
These milks were submitted to nutrition tests
by Dr R. K. Pal, a medically qualified and
experienced officer stationed at the Institute as
Liaison Officer between Human Nutrition and
Agricultural Research. He carried out experi-
ments with rats and a large number of boys in
the Estate and found that this abnormal milk
was in no way deficient in composition and
nutritive value.
It was, therefore, of interest to ascertain the
chemical composition of the premilk i.e., milk
obtained a few days before calving, as a preli-
minary to the starting of further investigations.
From the available literature on the subject,
it is seen that the investigations were along
two main lines—(a) From secretions before
calving to colostrum, studied by Woodman and
Hammond [1923] and Ashdell [1925] and (b)
From colostrum to normal milk, studied by
Bergmann and Turner [1937], Dover and Siva-
subramaniam [1938] and Shah [1936].
In this investigation we have observed the
variation in the composition of premilk of
heifers and cows of different calving and ages
up to the day of parturition and continuing to
the state of normal milk secretion. The secre-
tions were withdrawn twice daily; only morn-
ing secretions were analysed.
*The material for this article was taken from the
thesis submitted by S. K. Mukherjee in 1938 for the
Associateship of the Imperial Agricultural Research
Institute.
232