THE IDEAL DAIRY COW. 95 



THE DAIET COW. 



BY E. H. HYDE OF STAFFORD, CONTT. 



Gentlemen of the State Boaed op Agriculture, — 

 When I was invited to read a paper at this meeting, I hesi- 

 tated about accepting the invitation, fearing I could not give 

 any subject the consideration it deserved. Aside from my 

 home business, my time has been constantly called upon, as 

 one of the Cattle Commissioners of our State, in protecting 

 its borders from the invasion of the cattle-disease, which 

 threatened us from the State of New York. Before I had 

 decided, I received a printed programme of your appoint- 

 ments, in which I found myself announced to read a paper 

 on the " Dairy Cow." Had I anticipated this assignment, I 

 certainly should have promptly declined to speak on this 

 vexed and undefined subject. I shall only attempt to sug- 

 gest such ideas as will elicit a discussion from the dairymen 

 and practical farmers here, that may throw some light on this 

 ever talked of question. 



This subject has been elaborated and presented, not so 

 much under this simple heading as in various discussions 

 concerning the comparative merits of different breeds of 

 cows for dairy purposes, by those specially engaged in breed- 

 ing dairy stock. The Short-horns, the Jerseys, the Guernseys, 

 and the Ayrshires, are many of them owned and bred by 

 gentlemen of wealth and scientific investigation, who have 

 a taste for breeding improved or fancy stock, as it is called, 

 and have the facilities of giving such care in feed and shelter 

 as the ordinary farmer cannot bestow. They have thus been 

 working, or endeavoring to work, out such problems as could 

 not otherwise be solved. In this presentation of various 

 breeds for public favor, each has found the best " dairy cow " 

 in his respective class, and has given us remarkable results 

 in regard to the production and quality of milk and butter, 

 which you all have seen recorded. This presentation from 

 so-called scientific breeders and fancy farmers is open to criti- 

 cism by ordinary practical farmers. 



Ayrshires — for hardiness, for quantity of milk of good 

 quality in proportion to the amount of food — have never, 

 perhaps, been surpassed ; while they are not so rich in butter 



