Science: Meat-Eating Cow

Dairymen on the Didsbury Jersey farms at Didsbury, Alberta, last week argued that it was a meat diet which caused one of their cows, Waikiki Xenia’s Fanny, to produce almost pure cream.

Cows of course are herbivorous animals. Their teeth, stomachs, and entire physiology are organized to get nutrition from grasses. As an experiment the dairymen mixed ground meat in Fanny’s meals. After her calf was born (she is two years old), she yielded the unusually rich milk. The meat may be the cause; or Fanny may be an unusual builder of butterfat. At any rate, her milk churns into butter without the customary preliminary separation of cream.