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The seasonality of milk sales in England and Wales from 1936–7 to 1951–2
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 March 2009
Extract
1. The seasonal variation of farm sales of milk was measured for each year from 1937– 8 to 1951– 2 for England and Wales, and for each of the eleven marketing regions into which the country is divided.
2. The effect of changes between years in the amount of seasonal variation in milk values on the amount of seasonal variation in sales was examined and little direct connexion found.
3. Despite the fact that high milk prices in winter do not make production at that time more profitable, farmers get their cows to calve when prices are rising or are at their highest.
4. An inverse correlation was found between the number of calves born alive and sales of milk in the same month, but a positive correlation between the total number of cows in milk and the volume of sales in the same month.
5. That part of seasonal variation in sales which cannot be explained by variations in the number of animals in milk was shown to be mainly due to variations in the shape of lactation curves of animals calving in different months.
6. The importance of feeding, particularly the availability and condition of grass, in affecting the shape of the lactation curve is discussed.
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- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1954