By Umar Nsubuga
Sarah Kintu, a resident of Kawumu in Luwero district says her zero-grazing cow’s milk is not so good.
“It is watery, when I measure it comes to almost 20%,” she wonders because she doesn’t know the problem.
Peter Mubiru, a veterinary doctor says the water content of milk varies considerably among the different breeds of cows.
“Even within the same breed, individual cows have some variations, and within the same cow, there are variations according to season and the way you look after it,” he says.
For example, cows that are exposed to heat and not given enough water to drink produce milk with less water and more fats.
This milk tends to be thicker than normal. When the rainy season comes, the grass will be juicer and this lessens the effects of water deprivation.
He says the milk will be thinner and look abnormal if you are used to seeing thick milk. This often causes farmers to worry unnecessarily.
This is not to say there is no problem with your milk, he explains that perhaps it is truly too watery to tell whether the water content is too much you need to see a veterinarian or dairy professional.
“Handy gadgets are available that measure the water content of milk. There are also circumstances where the milk becomes watery because a cow has an infection in the udder,” he adds, In this case, when you milk the udder it will produce watery milk accompanied by clots.
“Do not forget that in some cases a workman can take some milk and then replace the lost volume with water so that you do not easily detect the fraud,” Mubiru advises.
