The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1917-07-12
Dipping Does Not Reduce Milk Yields.

n Washington, July 3::-"Dipping
cows to kill fever ticks actually in
creases milk yields" says the Uni
ted States Department of Agricul-
ture in a statement issued today.
This is proved in actual experiment
and in the results obtained in thou
sands of dairy herds the owners of
which are thorough believers in tick
eradication by the dipping-vat me-
thod. Careful records prove that
lightly infested cows produce 1876
per cent less milk than free cows,
while COWS heavily infested produce
on an average 42.4 less milk than
similar cows freed from ticks. This
was established by records of yields
kept over considerable periods for
ticky herds before they are dipped
and for the same herds after they
are dipped.
"A herd of 20 lightly ticked COWS
produced 29 quarts less milk per day,
or loss of $500 quarts in 200 days
milking, than 20 tick-free cows of
the same kind. Twenty heavily tick
ed cows produced 81 quarts per day
less, s,or loss of 1S. 400 quarts in 200
days milking, than 20 tick-free cows
of q similar breed. The monetary
gain from dipping of the lightly in
tested herd would have been $3.50 q
year; from the heavily ticked herd a
dipping would have given him in
creased profits of $3.50 year.
Here is an actual record from a
dairy herd: A dairyman in heavily
infested territory dipped his cattle.
One week after dipping, his herd of
AZ COWS gave 10 gallons of milk
more-an increase of 1915 per cent
from the start. The milk sold for 35
cents a gallon, and he got $3.50 more
per day from his herd from one Dip
ping. He had begun to feed the
cows instead of the ticks.
Those who assert that dipping
diminishes milk flow judge entirely
from the milk production for 2 or 3
days Immediately following the trip
to the vat. 1t is natural that for z
or 8 days after mich animal has
been driven a few miles and gone
through the excitement of dipping,
her milk flow will temporarily fall
off slightly. The actual figures show
that for 2 or 3 days there may be a
reduction of an average of 100 per
cent or about 0.S of quart for an
S.ouart cow. In 3 to 5 days the
temporary falling off disappears and
if the dairyman would keep records
over any long period he would find
that getting rid of ticks was increas-
ing his actual milk production from
Is to AZ per cent.
THAT dipping cows to get rid of
cattle ticks must increase milk flow
can readily be reasoned out by anI-
one who will approach the subjs3
with an open mind and not let his
preiudices fight his pocketbook.
Cows can make milk only from
blood. 1t follows that the more
blood the ticks suck out from them
the less material the COWS will
to turn into milk have. When
it is realized that the ticks on a
heavily infested animal consume
as much as 200 pounds of blood a
year, it can be seen that a, heavily
infested cow will lose by the tick
route large and important amount
of milk-making material. When it
is realized that the cow can make
blood to supply her milk glands only
from the feed she consumes, it can
be seen that the tick by sucking
blood is wasting lot of good feed
that ought to be going to icrease
milk production.
1T is as unreasonable to estimate
the effect of dipping on a cows yield
4.x,o