The Yield and Composition of Milk from Aberdeen-Angus Cows

Abstract

Total lactation yield of milk and butterfat as well as butterfat percentage and milk analyses are presented for successive lactations of seven purebred Aberdeen-Angus cows from the experimental herd of the Department of Genetics, University of Wisconsin. On an average the cows have produced 3,100 pounds of milk with 4.1 per cent of butterfat per lactation but, especially in milk yield, there is a considerable range of variation around the average. The fat and protein content of the milk is a little lower than in the milk from two Jersey cows kept under similar environmental conditions but the percentage of ash and milk sugar is practically the same. The rate of milk secretion is, on an average, lower in the Aberdeen-Angus cows than in the Jerseys and Holstein-Friesians of the same herd, and the lactation period is shorter. Some Aberdeen-Angus cows attain, however, as high monthly yield as low or medium producing Jerseys and show also a fairly good persistency of production. © 1933, American Dairy Science Association. All rights reserved.