110 STATE BOARD OF AGKICULTURE. 



rate account of this cow from the 16th of November, 1879, to the 15th of De- 

 cember following, with the following result : 



Dk. 



Value of grain fed during the month 13 85 



Hay for one month 2 63 



Total expense '. $5 47 



Cr. 



By 45 lbs. butter, sold at 20c 19 00 



By 60 qts. milk, sold at 5c 3 00 



Gross receipts $13 00 



Profits per month 6 53 



In the month of l^Iay, and on grass feed only, our cow Duchess gave per 

 day for seven days in succession 54f lbs. of milk, from which was made 2^ lbs. 

 butter per day during tlie same time. Her grand-dam was a prize cow for 

 milk and butter in Madison county, N. Y., there having been made from her 

 milk 17^ lbs. of butter per week, and her feed was grass only. The weight of 

 Duchess (this cow) in ordinary condition was 1050 lbs. 



Think it will be admitted that the milk of the above described cows would 

 amply pay the total expense of keeping, then the value of the calf would be 

 the profit on the capital stock invested. Is not this a fair mathematical 

 proposition ? 



I have before me the record of the sale by auction of the calves of the herd 

 of the late Edwin Smith : Belmont, $150; Fido, $130; Imperial, $305; Ward- 

 hart, 8100 ; Young Guelph, $305. And he understood when living that the 

 price obtained for the calves Avas the interest or the profit on the money 

 invested. Why did some of the above sell for twice what others did? 



Now I perceive the subject opens so wide a field of discussion that the'grind- 

 stone is well worn and 7ny gas and your patience will soon be exhausted. I 

 have not spoken of the commercial value of beef, butter and cheese, and the 

 comparative weight of the several breeds, nor of the influence of climate, care, 

 feed, etc. And as almost every commodity is sold by weight, that after a cow 

 is so old that it is not profitable to keep her, then when fattened she will 

 weigh 1,600 or 1,800 pounds; and the steer that at three years old will bring 

 down the scales at 3,000 pounds. The comparative value of the best breeds 

 for this climate is in my humble opinion very easy to demonstrate. 



The principles of breeding, or the physiological laws involved in the repro- 

 duction and improvement of domestic animals, the law of similarity, and the 

 law of variation, each contain matter for an essay which might be interesting 

 to discuss if time would permit. 



I close by using the language of Mr. F. P. Lee at the Dowagiac Institute in 

 1878 : What kind of cattle shall we breed : If we desire a butter-maker alone, 

 I answer the Jersey, because we are sure of a fair quantity of an extra quality 

 of butter ; if for milk and cheese, the Ayrshire or Holstein ; if for working 

 oxen, the Devon ; if for beef, the Hereford. But if you want an animal com- 

 bining all these qualities I answer the Short-horn, because there is no race of 

 cattle that combines the qualities of labor, beef and milk in such a large 



