6O PROFITABLE DAIRYING 



whom he buys. A first-class heifer can be bought, 

 before she has come fresh, dollars and dollars cheaper 

 than after the owner has milked her for a season and 

 has learned her true value. It is safer to buy the 

 heifer before the owner has learned her virtues and 

 vices than after. 



CROSS-BREEDING 



More valuable time is lost by those seeking to 

 build up a herd for special purpose in pursuing that 

 ignis fatuus, the " general purpose cow/' than in any 

 other way. It takes from four to eight years to 

 breed a cow of any specified quality. This is too 

 large a part of a lifetime to be lost in mere experi- 

 ment. 



Crossing a beef breed with a milk or butter breed 

 neutralizes the best qualities of both. The result 

 of years of effort is lost in the cross. The writer, 

 after years of investigation and study, has ventured 

 upon one cross, that of an Ayrshire father upon a 

 Jersey mother. Both are bred for milk and butter. 

 The Jersey for butter, and the Ayrshire for milk and 

 butter. The breeds have much in common. The 

 strong points of the one seem to supply the weak 

 points of the other. The Ayrshire is possessed of 

 a strong constitution and excellent digestive powers. 

 Its butter-fat globule is small, light in color, and 

 does not cream as readily as that of the Jersey. 

 That of the Jersey is large, creams readily, is high 

 in color, and produces an excellent quality of but- 

 ter. The prepotency of the Jersey is strongest in 

 this direction; that of the Ayrshire in imparting 

 strong constitution and excellent digestive powers. 



