Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-02-20
FOR THE FARMER.
Why the Strippings are Rich in Cream.
old Methods of Strengthening Must
be Abandoned.-Farm Wells.
Good Profits in Sheep Husbandry.-When
to Trust demonstrating Seed
Corn.-The Farm Work Shop.
Strippings.


Every person who knows ANYTHING
of milk knows that the last drawn milk
of COW is much richer in cream than
the other milk; but the reason for this
is not generally known. Indeed, it has
been a subject of dispute. and the ex-
PLANTATION usually given is quite errone-
Gus. The structure of the cows udder
well studied will explain why the strip
pings are so rich. Any fact learned is
interesting in two ways; first, because
1t Is pleasant for the mere knowledge
gained and the relation of it to matters
OF daily life; and second, because the
knowledge is a guide to the right kind
of practice in daily work.
A cows udder is composed of a solid
mass of glandular substance apparent
ly made up of very small nodules or
masses, through which a fine men,
brane passes so as to separate the
whole into cells or divisions. The I'D
der IS divided into two parts by a men,
brane from the front to the back, max
ing two separate and distinct halves.
These halves are not divided, and vet
the front and back part are distinct
from each other; each quarter being
connected with the teat which belongs
to it by the small cells or divisions and
small pipes or ducts leading from them
to the teat. The upper part of the I'D
der is made up almost wholly of fat;
the lower part has very little fat in it.
Consequently with this structure the
udder cannot, as many have taught, be
a simple reservoir of milk in which the
cream can rise to the top as it accumul-
ates in the udder. The udder, in fact,
can hold very little milk. In a recent
examination of an udder by careful
dissection, the combined spaces or
ducts in it were found to be insufficient
to hold half pint of milk; but the
milk was held as by sponge of close
texture all through the glands of the
udder, and in the small cells mention
ed, which thus kept the milk as if
thousands Of small bladders each hold
ing milk, were gathered into another
larger bladder, but all the milk found
would not measure pint; and this I'D
der was taken from a COW milking
several quarts at a time, that was
slaughtered twelve hours after having
been MIXED.
The milk, therefore, must be pro-
duced in the udder as the milking pro
ceeds; and the cow may prevent the
flow of milk by depressing this action.
The giving of milk is clearly a volun-
tary act of the cow, and as she lets it
down the milk flows from these cells
into the passages leading to the teats.
Necessarily the milk from the upper
part of the udder can only come down
last; and the glandular substance in
this part Of the udder being mostly fat
the milk is made up largely of fat,
which is mingled with the serum or
milky fluid that escapes from the
glands by a change of the substance
into milk. Thus the richness of the
strippings is accounted for.
One useful lesson NAV be learned
from this study. 1t has been said that
the richness of the food of cow in fat
does not increase the richness of the
milk. The palpable unreasonablenes
of this, evident to those dairymen who
have found it profitable to feed food
rich III fat to their COWS, is distinctly
proved by the facts mentioned. For it
is admitted that rich food does make
fat in the animal. No one is hardy
enough to deny that. But if the rich
food increases the fat in the udder, and
this fat mixed in the glandular sub
stance, and seen by the aid of micros-
cope to exist in the form of small
globuIes in the glandular substance,
escapes rs this substance breaks down
into the serum of the milk and makes
the milk from this part of the udder
exceedingly rich in fat, then this fat
(the butter) must have been increased
by the fat in the food. AnG the prac-
teal experience of the dairylnen that if
pays to give oil meal and corn meal
that are rich in fat to increase the but
ter yield, is corroborated and con-
firmed, in spite of the belief of persons
who may think otherwise. = Henry
Ste1Cart IN american Agriculturtst.