INSTITUTE PAPERS. 



BREEDING THE DAIRY COW. 



B)' Edward A'an Alstvne, Kinderhook, N. Y. 



In speaking- of the breeding of the dairy cow I do not want 

 to be misunderstood. I want to talk a, little in the beginning 

 about the pure-bred animal, and I want to say that there is no 

 man that holds a pure-bred animal in higher esteem than I do; 

 and I do not want you to construe anything that I say later 

 on about breeding grades to mean that I do not value pure 

 breeding. 



I want to talk to you about the pure-bred animal. When 

 \vc are going to build up a dairy herd the first thing is to get 

 some type in mind. If the first thing is to be the production, 

 then I think it is established beyond doubt that what we want 

 to breed for that purpose are the Channel Island cattle. Why? 

 Because they have been bred for two centuries just for the 

 purpose of producing butter. They are rather small animals, 

 have adapted themselves to their environment in the Channel 

 Islands, with their rather bleak climate in some parts of the 

 year, and rather scant forage — animals that have been bred 

 along one line, cows that can produce a pound of butter-fat 

 cheaper tlian any other cows in the world. Not only that, but 

 from animals of that line of breeding can more readily be 

 made a fine line of butter products, more easily churned, at a 

 higher temperature, of superior grain and higher color. 



On the other hand, if our idea is to produce milk, without 

 much regard to its """at, then I think it admits of no doubt that 

 we can produce a quart of milk most economically from a type 

 of animal of the Holstein breed — that for more than 2,000 

 years have been bred for that purpose. While the Jersey and 

 the Guernsey cows have been bred in these little islands, with 

 the food rather scanty, the Holstein has been bred in the fer- 



