DAIRY COWS. 229 



An illustration nearer home is reported by Dr. J. R, 

 Slingerland, Trustee of the Shaker Society at Union Vil- 

 lage, O. In January, 1895, he bought 35 head of Shorthorn 

 steers, coming 2 years old, for feeding. At the same time 

 they had 18 head, the same age, of their own breeding, the 

 produce of a Red Polled bull on Shorthorn cows. At the 

 time named the full-blood Shorthorns averaged 940 lbs. in 

 weight, and the cross-breds 790 lbs. All were pastured the 

 summer of 1895, fed out in the late fall, and sold to the 

 same buyer on the same day in January, 1896. 



The full-blood steers consumed an average of 85 bushels 

 of corn, besides hay and corn-fodder, in fatting, and weighed 

 v/hen sold an average of 1540 lbs. each — a gain of 600 lbs. 

 in the year. They sold for $4 a hundred. The polled cross- 

 breds consumed an average of 50 bushels of corn, with 

 corn-fodder only for roughage, and weighed when sold an 

 average of 1492 lbs. — a gain in the year of 702 lbs. They 

 sold for $4.25 a hundred. 



The Red Polled bull, Osman 1251, used in producing the 

 cross-bred steers in this trial, is the son of a full sister to 

 Eleanor, and is the sire of many fine dairy cows. 



In appearance the Red Polls greatly resemble Devons, 

 save the horns, and except that they are somewhat larger, 

 and the cows, as a rule, are better milkers. They have the 

 same rich color, fine bone, round, smooth, compact form, 

 free from prominent points, and the same muscular habit 

 and active disposition ; and their meat is of the same fine- 

 grained, juicy character. 



Milking Qualities. — The modern Red Polled cow does not 

 milk so largely as the old Suffolk, but her milk is of better 

 quality. Sixty pounds a day, which Youatt says in his time 

 was not unusual, is now, I think, somewhat rare. Four 

 and a half to five gallons a day, or say 40 to 45 lbs., is a 

 good yield from a mature cow in the flush of the season. 

 Hut she will easily give, with proper care, 6000 to 8000 lbs. 

 in a year, and some will considerably exceed this. In the 

 report of English herds, published in the Red Polled Herd 

 Book, the average yields of mature cows in the best herds 

 is fiom 5000 to over 7000 lbs. a year. In Lord Rothchild's 



