98 The Bulletin. 



This made him think better of his buttermilli coutract, and the wisdom of 

 holding to it. He said it was very hard to get men to milk cows these days, 

 and believed he would get some grade Guernseys, even if he did not get quite 

 as much skim-milk from them. 



Right here a comparison of per cent of cream or butter-fat obtained from 

 the two breeds may be of interest. From Superintendent Gardner's report of 

 the Holstein-Friesian Advanced Register, we see that the average per cent 

 of butter-fat for over 5,000 cows, which had been admitted up to .July 1st. 

 was 3.5 per cent, while the average for all the Guernseys in the Advanced 

 Register is over 5 per cent, almost half as much again. Most of these tests 

 are short seven-day ones, taken soon after freshening. 



Some very valuable and interesting results have been obtained by Prof. 

 C. II. Eckles of the Missouri Experiment Station, and published in Bulletin 

 No. 100. entitled "Influence of Fatness of Cow at Parturition on Per Cent of 

 Fat in ;Milk." I would advise a careful reading of the entire bulletin by all 

 cow owners. A few of the results obtained are well worth our careful consid- 

 eration at this time. One table shows that the same cow who gave an aver- 

 age per cent under seven-day tests of 4..S5 per cent gave for the year only 

 3.42 per cent. Summing up the results of the records made at the Experi- 

 ment Stations together with those obtained from short-time tests by the 

 Holstein-Friesian Advanced Register records, the following conclusions were 

 reached : 



"The per cent of butter-fat in milk can be influenced to a marked degree for 

 tlio first twenty to thirty days by the fatness of the animal at parturition. 

 This influence appears to extend in some cases in a less degree for at least 

 three months. T;nd(>r- feeding of the animal after parturition seems to be a 

 necessary condition lo bring alvrut this abnormal per cent of fat in the milk. 

 Tests of dairy cows made for short intervals in the beginning of the lactation 

 period cannot be depended ujion to indicate the normal per cent of fat pro- 

 duced by the cows tested." The importance of having the cow in gooii condi- 

 tion at time of freshening is made apparent, and should lie carefully noted 

 by all dairymen. 



The dairyman is a manufacturer pure and simple, handling living machines 

 to convert grass, hay, ensilage, and grain, together with labor, into highly 

 finished and delicate products, milk and butter. Skill of no mean order for 

 such work is requiretl. or the machine goes wrong and the product is poor, 

 and brings a price below the cost of manufacture. The farmer argues this 

 way : Why should I produce a 5 per cent milk when the law says 3 or 3.5 

 I^er cent will pass? And he determines to give just as low a grade as possible, 

 especially where he is wholesaling and does not come in direct contact with 

 the consumer. In jiractically all large towns and cities there is a demand at 

 satisfactory prices for a high-grade milk. With all the stir these days about 

 pure foods, tuberculosis, etc., a fair price can readily be obtained for a certi- 

 fied product, or one with a guaranteed jjer cent of butter-fat and that satisfies 

 the eye and is pleasant to the taste. To fill this demand no breed can equal 

 the Guernsey. In a letter received a few days ago from the manager of an 

 Ohio herd, whose market is a manufacturing town where low prices prevail, 

 he states that their milk readily commands 2 cents per quart over other milk. 

 and that during the flush season when other dairymen are selling for 4 cents 

 and 5 cents, theirs sells for 8 cents the entire year. Their butter brings 10 

 cents premium at wholesale over Elgin prices, no artificial coloring being used. 

 What is true in this manufacturing town is true elsewhere to even a greater 

 degree. 



Where can Guernseys be bought, and why is the price so high? I will 

 answer the last first by asking another : Is it a good article or a poor one 

 that sells for the most money? Guernseys are not found heaped on the bar- 

 gain counters or driven to the stock yards. Buyers are hunting them in all 

 quarters, and the owner has to refuse to sell if he would keep his stock, in 

 many cases. An illustration will show how one Vermont Yankee figured it 

 out. While in Vermont one winter at a dairymen's convention, an old 

 farmer came in wearing a great fur coat, and in talking with him, he told 

 me he kept Guernseys. It seems that a year before he had gone to a breeder 

 in another town to buy a Guernsey heifer, and was given his choice of four for 



