State Agricultural Society. 



525 



Article. 



Points. 



26. Hind-legs, not too close in walking 



27. Hoof's, small 



28. Udder, full in form,, i, e., well in line with the belly... 



29. Udder, well up behiud 



30. Teats, large and squarely placed; behind, wide apart 



31. Milk-veins, very prominent 



32. Growth 



33. General appearance 



34. Condition 



Perfection 



1 

 1 

 1 



1 

 1 

 1 

 1 

 1 

 1 



34 



No prize shall be awarded to cows having less than twenty-nine 

 points. 



No prize shall be awarded to heifers having less than twenty-six 

 points. 



Cows having obtained twenty-seven points, and heifers twenty-four 

 points, shall be allowed to be branded, but cannot take a prize. 



Three points — namely, numbers twenty-eight, twenty-nine, and thirty- 

 one — shall be deducted from the number required for perfection in 

 heifers, as their udder and milk-veins cannot be fully developed; a heifer 

 will, therefore, be considered perfect at thirty -one points. 



Any one in America, where real experience with Jersey cattle is 

 hardly more than twenty five years old, ought to be very modest about 

 criticising a standard set up forty years ago by the best men in Jersey, 

 who had a lifelong experience and the much older traditions of their 

 neighborhoods to guide them. At the same time, much attention has 

 been given to this subject by the members of the American Jersey Cattle 

 Club, and a tolerably full and careful discussion has occupied the atten- 

 tion of some of our best breeders for several years. Into this discussion 

 the officers of the Jersey Society have now entered; and it may be in 

 place here to refer to some of the points under consideration, and to 

 state the reasons why a change seems desirable. 



It is urged that the Jersey scale of points has the radical defect of 

 giving the same prominence to unessential points that it does to essential 

 ones. For instance: if a cow has her nostrils high and open, that counts 

 one in the competition with others; if her udder is full in form — i. e., 

 well in line with the belly — that most valuable of all characteristics also 

 counts but one. By the scale, a prize might be awarded to a cow whose 

 teats are small, and so close as to be even grown together; whose udder 

 is hardly apparent from behind, and is cut off in front like a goat's udder; 

 whose hide is coarse and tight, and whose milk veins are scarcely appa- 

 rent; while one absolutely perfect in all these essential respects might 

 be refused a premium because her muzzle is not fine and encircled by a 

 light color; because her ears are large and coarse, her back is not straight 

 from the withers to the top of the hip, her rump slopes, and her tail does 

 not reach to the hocks. This objection is the most serious one, but 

 there are other points which many think it would be better to alter. 



