90 THE CATTLE- OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



the land, will largely help to prevent any difficulty with regard 

 to cleanliness, and will, moreover, save the whole of the liquid 

 as well as the solid manure. 



The next point, as to what may be considered a fair produce 

 of milk and butter, is difficult to answer, depending so entirely 

 upon the nature of the food and the peculiar disposition of the 

 animal. In all such questions we must endeavour to get at 

 something like an average result ; and we have no hesitation in 

 stating that well- managed cows should yield from 550 to 650 

 gallons of milk annually. Yorkshire shorthorns have been 

 kaown to produce 1100, and Ayrshires as much as 850 gallons ; 

 but these are exceptional cases. A number of well-bred short- 

 horns belonging to Lord Warwick were not long since reported 

 to have undergone a test of twenty summer weeks and to have 

 averaged between nineteen and twenty quarts per head per day. 

 It is not now a very difficult matter to find dairy shorthorns 

 which will reach twenty quarts daily soon after calving. Short- 

 horns, however, have the reputation of yielding milk which is 

 not rich in butter, lib. to twelve quarts being the commonly 

 accepted ratio. The cream separator, however, has altered these 

 figures. During the winter of 1885-6 Col. Curtis Hayward 

 made a number of experiments. His herd consists of about 

 fifty cows, two- thirds dairy shorthorns and one-third Jerseys, 

 and during the worst months of the year, by means of the 

 separator, he obtained lib. of butter from 18|lb. to 221b. of 

 milk (a gallon is about lOjlb.), the quantity varying each week. 

 The writer made a similar experiment in April with a number 

 of newly calved shorthorns, yielding from sixteen quarts (heifers) 

 to nineteen and a half quarts (cows). Notwithstanding the 

 heavy milking of the animals, they made lib. of butter to IBJlb. 

 of milk. The Ayrshires and the Kerries do not equal this, nor 

 is it exceeded by the Red Poll or any cow but the Channel 

 Islander. 



The question arises, What would be a fair profit under good 

 management ? The value of a cow's produce may be put roundly 

 at a sum between 171. and 201. We are not now speaking of 

 the milk trade in the neighbourhood of large towns, because, 

 without any addition from the cow with the iron tail, new milk 

 often makes 8d. to 9d. a gallon wholesale, which leaves an 



