SELECTION OF A BREED 6l 



I learned of two herds in Massachusetts of the 

 cross-bred Jersey- Ayrshire that were averaging 400 

 pounds of butter a year per cow. Acting upon this 

 information, I procured some of the best Jersey 

 cows I could find and used them with a bull of 

 satisfactory ancestry. The result has been heifers 

 of a remarkably uniform quality in production. 

 Eighteen of twenty heifers were perfectly satisfac- 

 tory milkers; and, barring the cow Daisy, here- 

 after referred to, have proved themselves the best 

 butter producers I have ever owned. Their milk 

 production is from 30 to 50 per cent, increase over 

 that of the full-blood mothers, with quality but 

 slightly inferior thereto. For family use they are 

 superior cows. They are attractive in appearance. 

 So far as I have been able to learn, this is the only 

 successful cross of dairy cattle that has been made. 

 The cross of the Jersey with the Holstein has pro- 

 duced some excellent cows, but the cross, generally 

 speaking, is worse than a failure. The types are op- 

 posite in almost every respect. The prepotent quali- 

 ties of both breeds are lost in the cross. The cross 

 of Jersey, Guernsey, or Holstein with the beef breeds 

 is equally unsatisfactory. Steady and persistent 

 breeding in one line and for a single purpose is the 

 only safe rule for a dairyman to follow. 



After having raised the standard of a herd by 

 careful breeding comes the final and crucial test to 

 wit, individual selection. It is, after all, capacity of 

 the individual demonstrated by actual test that fixes 

 the standard of the dairy cow. By breeding the 

 average the general chances may be vastly in- 



