DR WATNEY'S SUCCESSES 



219 



Dr Watney's success as a breeder of Jerseys is worthy 

 of the closest attention, as beginning so recently as 1890, 

 without special knowledge of any breed of cattle and adher- 

 ing rigidly to the one aim, that of butter-production, he has 

 achieved a phenomenal record. He has but once shown for 

 appearances ; but in the butter-tests during the last eleven years 

 the Buckhold herd has won more gold medals than all the 

 other herds in England combined, and 80 out of the total of 

 181 medals awarded. This has been accomplished by dis- 

 regarding colour, size, shape, and every other fancy character- 

 istic, and breeding exclusively for butter yields. The herd was 

 formed by purchasing the best performers that, could be found 

 in the market with hereditary butter-producing tendencies, 

 and subsequently continued with home-bred animals which 

 have developed powers of butter-production beyond anything 

 that money could buy. 



The following analysis of the figures in the foregoing 

 table relating to Jerseys shows the unprecedented success 

 achieved by the representatives of Dr Watney's herd. 



G. = Gold medals. S. = Silver medals. B. = Bronze medals. 



Dr Watney has demonstrated (i) that the hereditary 

 tendency to butter-production is a matter of the first import- 

 ance in the breeding dairy stock ; (2) without keeping a butter 

 record it is impossible to breed with any certainty for butter ; 

 (3) in-breeding to any great extent is a dangerous policy to 

 pursue, owing to the consequent loss of constitution ; (4) the 

 cattle winning prizes for butter yields at public shows are not 

 necessarily the cows that take the highest places in the 

 annual butter records, in which the property of giving much 

 rich milk for a period of eight to ten months is a most 

 important factor ; (5) careful milking at regular intervals is 

 absolutely essential ; and (6) on the whole, " the English 



