JERSEY CATTLE. 191 



nor do thoy regret the change when they are selling ever}' pound of 

 their hu-gor butter yield at 5, 10, 20 and 25 cents a pound more 

 than the l)utter of native cows sells for. Tiieir herds, at present, 

 partaking largely of the characteristics of their Jersey sire, are 

 making more butter and better butter, and butter which costs less 

 and sells for much more than that of any native herds. 



The rations most favorable in this country for the health of the 

 cow, the development of the calf in vtero, and for the most profitable 

 production of the best butter, are pasture supplemented by fodder, 

 rj'c, peas and oats, millet, corn and barley, in the spring, fall and 

 summer ; and in the winter, fifteen to twenty pounds of ha}-, four to 

 six quarts of corn and wheat mixed half and half, and half a peck 

 of carrots or beets. Linseed and cotton seed meal should be 

 avoided or fed very sparingly for fear of injury to the cow or the 

 butter or both. 



An amount of grain larger than the Jersey cow can at once direct 

 toward warmth of the bod}' and the supplv of butter fats in the 

 udder will cause a tendency toward putting fat on the carcass, and 

 the encouragement of this tendency will prove fatal to the greatest 

 butter yield. From the start care must be taken to give the Jersey 

 enough to keep it growing while A'oung and to supply in the mature 

 animal the demands of the udder and the support of the body 

 generally ; but all food beyond that required for these purposes will 

 be worse than wasted, for it will be sure to divert the Jerse}'' from a 

 butter producer, in which character she is a success, to a beef 

 producer, in which role she must always and should always be a 

 failure. 



Great care should be exercised with regard to high feeding before 

 the cow calves ; with cows of this breed it is well to withdraw all 

 gi'ain and to limit the amount of rich pasture for at least six weeks 

 before the calf is born. While it is important to give the cow food 

 sufficient to supply all of her needs, as well as those of the almost 

 fully developed fretus, yet it should be remembered that at this time 

 the cow is taking comparatively little exercise, she is giving little or 

 no milk, and the calf until it comes into the world requires less than 

 an ounce of nourishment a day ; all of these needs good hay, and 

 perhaps a few roots, will supply ; more food will unduly rouse the 

 sj'stem. Our object should be to prepare the cow as well as possible 

 for the great change her system will undergo, when all of the ener- 

 gies of her organism are turned suddenly from the moderate needs 



