CHAPTER VIII. 



Show-yard Records 



While the breeders of Guernsey cattle have from the very 

 first been particularly strong advocates of production records 

 as the important means of improving their breed, still they 

 have always been ready to exhibit the best specimens of the 

 breed in competition with their fellow Guernsey breeders at 

 leading fairs and exhibitions. 



In the early days the Jersey and the Guernsey were 

 shown at both English and American fairs in the same class, 

 generally under the name of Alderney or Channel Islands 



Aged Cow Class, Wiconsin State Fair, 1910. 



cattle, but as early as 1870 the secretary of the Royal Agri- 

 cultural Society of England recommended that the Guernseys 

 be given a class by themselves, and they were first classed 

 alone at the exposition of that society in 1871. 



Good showings of Guernseys began to be made at the 

 New York State and other leading eastern fairs in the early 

 '80s. The cow Elegante 592 was the sweepstakes winner 

 over all breeds at the New York State Fair in 1881, having 

 won first prize on Guernsey in 1880 at the Herd Book Show 

 and second at the show of the Royal Guernsey Agricultural 

 Society in the same year. 



The growth of show-yard interest has steadily increased, 

 until now, with the Guernseys third in rank in the number 

 of registered animals, they have for the last two or three 

 years made the largest exhibits of all breeds at many of the 

 leading fairs east and west and at the National Dairy Show. 

 It is impossible in a book of this size to give even an approx- 



