CATTLE. 75 



extraordinary amounts the year through. It is noticeable that this cow received almost no 

 artificial food. She is also a rare exception, even for the Switzer breed. 



Perhaps no more reliable statistics as to the milk production exist than are kept by the 

 Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company of Cham, Switzerland. This is, I believe, the largest 

 and most successful concern of the kind in the world. It uses the milk of not less than five 

 to six thousand cows at the principal factory in Switzerland, and of as many more at the 

 company s condensing establishments in England. 



The company s director, Mr. Geo. H. Page (an American), feeds, as private property, the 

 very finest herd of the brown Switzer cows I have found in the country, and it is prin 

 cipally this herd of cows, and not the milk condensing factory, I purpose reporting briefly at 

 present. Mr. Page keeps his herd of thirty cows in a large rectangular house, with brick 

 walls and tile roof. The very broad ceiling is unsupported, except by the outer walls. It is 

 very high, and the whole immense room where the herd stands is plastered throughout, and 

 furnished with every modern improvement as to mangers, floors, ventilation, etc. This fine 

 herd ranges in age from three to five years, few being over three years, and the cows average 

 in weight 1,400 English pounds. One of them, a four years old (an exception of course) 

 weighs 1,810 English pounds. 



The cows of this herd are perhaps in all respects above the average of the Switzers, 

 as they were mostly choice selections, and paid for accordingly, at prices reaching in single 

 cases $200 to $240. 



Mr. Page feeds only grass and hay, summer and winter, and that is worth bearing in 

 mind. His cows are taken out to exercise daily, but never graze. Twenty-six of these three- 

 year-old heifers produced in April, May, and June (after first calf) 28,076 litres of milk, or 

 twelve quarts per cow daily a large average when it is remembered that it includes almost 

 every cow in the herd, and that none were at the best milking age. Mr. Page counts on 

 these twenty-six cows averaging fifteen litres daily this coming year. Three of the 21-year- 

 old heifers gave at highest point 191 quarts daily, and averaged 10 quarts the year through. 

 Three others, after second calf, gave 24 quarts daily for three months, and maintained a high 

 average throughout the year. 



Mr. Page s advice to those who would buy Swiss cows for importation would be to buy 

 for in-breeding only, and not for crossing. He retains only the very best calves, perhaps 

 one in six, and sells the remainder to the butchers. It is worthy of note here that Italy and 

 other States are rapidly buying up choice specimens of Swiss cows for exportation, so that 

 cattle growing here bids fair to assume larger and more profitable proportions. 



The milk condensing company of Cham pays at present to farmers for many miles around 

 an average of 13 centimes, and the farmers, with their dear land and their dear cows, are 

 apparently satisfied. The reports of the milk and butter of the many thousands of cows 

 contributing to the condensing factory at Cham are most interesting. During the year 1881, 

 the condensers used the milk of between 5,000 and 6,000 grass and hay-fed cows. They 

 were milked about nine months, and produced on an average 5,315 pounds of milk per cow; 

 this is 19.7 pounds, or 9.8 quarts, of milk per cow daily for the milking season.&quot; 



