INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE FLUCTUATIONS OF MILK YIELD
WITH THE ADVANCEMENT OF LACTATION
BY
L. S. JOSEPH, G.B.V.C.,
Cattle Superintendent, Pusa,
AND
C. N. DAVE, B.AG. (BOM.),
Post-graduate Student in Animal Husbandry and Dairying,
Imperial Institute of Agricultural Research, Pusa.
(Received for publication on 22nd April 1931.)
(With three text figures.)
It is one of the most essential problems for a dairyman to maintain a regular and
steady supply of milk to his customers. The method usually adopted for this pur-
pose is to regulate the services and therefore the calvings of the animals throughout
the year. This alone does not completely and successfully solve the problem as it
is co-related with tendency to the decline of milk in different lactations. The
dairyman has, therefore, before regulating services, to analyse his stock with re-
spect to the monthly milk yield in each lactation ; thus to work out the general
tendency towards decline in milk with the advancement of lactation. By combin-
ing the knowledge of decline in milk yield with the regulation of services, he will be
able to overcome the difficulty with regard to the surplus or shortage of milk.
With a view to study the above problem, records of Montgomery breed of cows
at Pusa Cattle Farm were gone through. The investigation is sub-divided into two
headings:—
I. Effect of season on calving.
II. Decline in milk yield with the advancement of lactation.
EFFECT OF SEASON ON CALVING.
The number of cases studied in this connection works out at 1,553, being the
total number during the past 24 years, a detailed account of which is given in
Appendix A. The following Table gives a consolidated review of it.
( 200 )