34 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Oct. 



5,000 pounds yearly. They soon found that there was little en- 

 couragement in talking about price, and having decided upon 

 Holstein-Friesians, began to correspond with large breeders. 

 Deciding to invest in a young herd, they selected a bull of one of 

 the very best strains. Grading up was slow, as a very large 

 percentage of calves were bulls, and on second calving one of the 

 original three registered heifers was lost. In 1905 two more 

 heifers were purchased and again in 1910 one was added. Each 

 animal was carefully selected from a leading Holstein strain. 

 From these heifers they now have a herd of thirty females and 

 their herd has gradually developed from an average of 6,000 

 pounds to 11,510 pounds per cow, per year in 1912. In 1914 the 

 average was 11,829 pounds. This is doubtless the highest average 

 in the State, at least for cows on twice a day milking. In 1914 

 they officially tested for the first time, making with five daughters 

 of the first bull selected, over 24 pounds butter as an average ; 

 and one of them. Lady Netheriand De Kol Vernon, holds the 

 State record for a cow bred, raised and developed by an owner, 

 with 28.42 pounds of butter in seven days. Another bull was 

 purchased in 1910, and again in 1914 to avoid close inbreeding, 

 although line breeding is the aim of this establishment. Sum- 

 ming up, the proprietors of Sunny Side Farm of Hamden, 

 Connecticut, have this to say : "We want to say right here that 

 the first purchase we made in Holsteins was the best invest- 

 ment we ever made in our lives." 



Otncial Records in Connecticut. 



From records available it seems that official testing of Hol- 

 steins does not date back earlier than 1907. In this year, Mr. R. 

 E. Buell, at that time located at Gilead, Connecticut, who had 

 created a considerable sensation in his neighborhood by paying 

 $280.00 for two heifers purchased from the herd of Henry Stevens 

 & Son, Laconia, N. Y., made the first seven day official tests. As 

 junior three-year-olds Nicola Pauline De Kol, No. 80,579, produced 

 404.3 pounds milk and 17.19 pounds butter, and Gertie Regis De 

 Kol 2nd, No. 80,578, produced 408.6 pounds milk and 16.15 

 pounds butter. Since then the records have improved rapidly 

 until at present they stand as below for the various classes : 



