112 REPORT OF THE SCOTTISH COMMISSION 



both as regards the land and the stock, the owner computed 

 it would be worth fully £4000 stg. The cattle here were of 

 the black and white variety, which is the prevailing breed in 

 Jutland. To most of us the black and white breed seemed 

 larger than the red Danish, and were, as a class, more milky 

 Hke, having well-sprung ribs, deep at the flank, and with 

 capacious milk vessels. In common with the red Danish, they 

 have conspicuously fine loose skins, and nice soft-touching milk 

 vessels. They are invariably deficient in fore-vessels, but were 

 this defect remedied they would be ideal dairy cattle. It is 

 claimed on behalf of this breed that they are hardier and more 

 vigorous than the red Danish ; certainly they are stronger about 

 the shoulders, and to all appearance are of stronger constitution. 

 Mr Rasmussen has bestowed great pains in breeding his cattle on 

 utility lines, with the result that he has, since acquiring the farm, 

 immensely increased both the milk and butter-fat productiveness 

 of his herd. The average milk record per cow for the past year 

 was fully 800 gallons, and the butter-fat test 3*65 per cent. The 

 average yield of butter per cow for the past year worked out to 

 337 lbs. The milk was all sent to a private creamery, and 

 paid for according to percentage of fat, the average price for the 

 year being 6d. per gallon, giving a return of £20 per cow. The 

 cows were being grazed out during the summer, and were receiving 

 in addition a little cake, bran and oats. The farm is cropped with 

 a view to produce a suitable winter food for the cows, mangolds 

 being largely grown, as well as swedes, oats, rye, barley and hay. 



The hours of work of the servants, who are all boarded on the 

 farm, are longer than in Scotland as a rule, and the wages about 

 half. For instance the female servants were getting the one about 

 £10 per annum, and the other £8 ; whereas the same class would 

 in the dairying districts of Scotland be getting £10 to £12 per 

 half year. Mr Rasmussen, an active, intelligent-looking man in 

 middle life, had four of a family, two sons and two daughters, one 

 son being at the university, and the other in Scotland studying 

 the Scotch system of farming. 



The whole place had a frugal well-managed air, the buildings 

 were commodious and comfortable, as is usual in Jutland, arranged 

 in the form of a square, the walls built of brick in a wooden 

 framework, and the roofs thatched, with the inevitable stork's nest 

 on one of the chimneys. By shrewd and judicious management 

 Mr Rasmussen has acquired a position of pre-eminence with his 

 dairy cattle, and as a consequence any young bulls he has to 

 dispose of are eagerly inquired after. Bull calves out of his best 

 milking cows are sold when six to eighteen months old and realise 

 from £10 to £25, and quite recently he got as much as £60 for 

 a very promising yearling bull out of an extra deep milking cow 

 with a good butter fat record. Here as everywhere in Denmark 

 the cows were tethered when at pasture, a system to which the 

 Scotch party could hardly be reconciled owing to the trouble 

 involved, but their minds were somewhat disabused in this respect 

 on seeing the whole twenty-four cows being marched in for milking 



