Variation in the composition of the milk of an abnormal cow

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
This paper is a record of the composition of the milk of an abnormal cow, during a period extending over three lactations. Although this cow was found eventually to be suffering from tuberculosis of the udder and lungs, no signs of the disease were apparent during the first two lactations recorded.The milk produced by this cow was abnormal during the whole period under review. Fat percentages were very variable, but the solids not fat content was consistently low, only 2 per cent. of the total number of samples analysed exceeding 8·5 per cent. in this constituent. Protein and lactose percentages were much below the averages for normal milk, but in the case of total ash the mean figures were normal. Of the ash constituents, the soluble portion was very high and the insoluble portion correspondingly low, the former presumably indicating a high chloride content. The percentages of phosphoric acid and lime were considerably below the mean figures for normal milk.Lactose and soluble ash percentages show a marked negative correlation, and moreover support the contention of Porcher and others that a definite lactose-chlorine ratio exists in milk.It is suggested that an abnormally low solids not fat content (i.e. low protein and lactose) and abnormal percentages of the individual ash constituents may be a sign of incipient disease affecting the organs involved in the secretion of milk.

This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit: