132 CATTLE AND DAIRY FARMING 



strong suspicion, however, contrary to the views of our neighbors, that the little 

 black cows of the adjoining county would prove quite as serviceable and much more 

 economical in our circumstances than the larger breeds, it was resolved to give them 

 a fair trial, and as we decided to start with good ones we made an expedition to Va- 

 lentia and after inspecting the herd of the Knight of Kerry, became the owners of 

 several good specimens of his prize-taking stock. But as these of course fetched 

 somewhat higher prices, we also made some purchases from the farmers about, in par- 

 ticular that of one little heifer which became quite a celebrity. It was in autumn that 

 we made our venture, and our little favorites having been carefully driven home and 

 well housed and attended to during the winter, duly calved the ensuing year, with 

 the exception of one of those bought from the Knight, which turned out a stripper, 

 almost all of them being three or four year old heifers, and this their first time of 

 calving. 



Besides these pure Kerries we also bought 3 half-breds, the result of the cross be- 

 tween the Kerry and the Shorthorn which Mr. Mahony so strongly condemns, and I 

 am bound to say that better milkers for their size it would be difficult to find. Oue 

 of them, moreover, was quite a beauty and chosen on this account by an excellent 

 judge who had some difficulty in persuading her owner to part with her, and I believe 

 that a "first cross" between Kerry and Shorthorn parents, possessing the requisite 

 qualifications, produces a very useful animal for a dairy farm, especially if it be one 

 where the yield of grass is not very heavy, or where there is mountain grazing ; for 

 these cows not only give plenty of milk up to au advanced age, but fatten more read- 

 ily and produce a larger amount of meat than the pure Kerry whenever it may be 

 necessary to get them ready for the butcher. 



The young Kerries, three or four year olds, with their first calf, did not (any of them) 

 milk more than 7-J quarts in the day the first year, but those which were two years 

 older gave 12 and 13 quarts, and even as much as 18 quarts soon after calving. A 

 four-year-old half-bred, however, gave 10^ quarts. Now, as our best Ayrshires, 

 large, heavy cows, which consumed a great deal more fodder than the Kerries, never 

 gave a greater yield than 15 quarts and our heaviest milker among the Shorthorns 

 never quite reached 20 quarts, even when receiving bean-meal mashes, &c., in addi- 

 tion to vetches and grass, I consider that the Kerries are decidedly the most profit- 

 able, particularly as they are industrious little creatures, wandering off to find food 

 for themselves, and always contriving, if they meet with any fair treatment, to keep 

 themselves in proper condition. 



A pure-bred Kerry, too, with her sleek ebon coat and gracefully-shaped waxy horns, 

 is a very pretty creature, and may almost challenge competition with her beautiful 

 dove-colored sisters of the Pyrenees, though I doubt whether she would willingly suf- 

 fer herself, as they do, to be trained to servile employments, and made either to plow 

 and furrow or draw a cart of hay. Nor would it, in point of fact, be at all profitable 

 to employ cows in this manner if we wanted them to give plenty of milk. Whether in 

 years to come, peasant farmers may find it economical to use cows in that way is an- 

 other matter. For my part, I believe that jennets, especially in Ireland, are better 

 substitutes for the more expensive equine animal. 



As to the cream-producing qualities of -my cows, I found Shorthorns to give the 

 lowest and common cows the highest percentage, Kerries and half-bred Kerries being 

 second best, and Ayrshires next to them in this respect. It is needless to allude to a 

 fact which every observant person who has to deal with cows will have noticed, that 

 the yield of cream often varies considerably with the same animal from one week to 

 another, and that from no appreciable cause, when no difference has been made in 

 the feeding, and there has been nothing, so far as one could see, in the state of the 

 cow herself to account for it. Of course, too, the creamometer is only a test of the 

 quantity and not of the quality of the cream, and I had no other way of judging of 

 the latter, save by its apparent richness or otherwise, which I used to note down. 1 



Taking, then, these notes for what they may be worth, I find that with one excep- 

 tion, that of a seven-year-old cow, the cream from my Ayrshires was remarkablv 

 poor, that of the Shorthorns little better, that of the Kerries took the next place, and 

 that the common cows gave the richest milk of all ; but I am bound to say that the 

 latter were almost all aged, and none of them less than 5 years old, and I have always 

 found the milk of old cows much richer than that of young ones, although the con- 

 trary opinion is, I believe, more generally held. It would bo interesting to know 

 what is the value of the milk of the Kerry cow as compared with that of the Alder- 

 ney or the Jersey. I imagine that on very good pasture the Channel Islands' cattle 

 would bear off the palm, but that on poorer or on mountain land the Kerry would 

 win the day. 



.As to Dexters I can pronounce no opinion. I had, indeed, a pair of these tiny crea- 

 tures more as curiosities than for anything else. They are comical, but have no pre- 

 tension to beauty. The Kerry heifer before mentioned became quite renowned in a 

 certain northern locality, to which, much to her own surprise probably, she found 

 berseli transplanted. She was one of those purchased at Valeutia, and owed her 



