1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



33 



FIGURE OF AN AYRSHIRE COW. 



The Ayrshire breed of cows is at present gain- 

 ing favor among the milk producers of New Eng- 

 land — we mean those who produce milk, for mar- 

 ket. How they stand with dairymen who con- 

 vert the milk into butter and cheese, we do not 

 know ; nor do we know whether fair trials have 

 yet been made with them among the dairymen of 

 Western Massachusetts, or in New Hampshire or 

 Vermont. It is generally conceded that they are 

 a gentle race, easily kept, and produce well for 

 the cost of keeping. 



In looking over Mr. Secretary Flint's new 

 work on "Milch Cows and Dairy Farming,^' we 

 find a portrait of a fine cow of this breed, and 

 with his consent give the engraving and his des- 

 cription of it to our readers. He says : 



"The Ayrshires are justly celebrated through- 

 out Great Britain and this country for their ex- 

 cellent dairy qualities. Though the most recent 

 in their origin, they are pretty distinct from the 

 other Scotch and English races. In color, the 

 pure Ayrshires are generally red and white, spot- 

 led or mottled, not roan, like many of the short- 

 horns, but often presenting a bright contrast of 

 colors. They are sometimes, though rarely, near 



carcass of the pure-bred Ayrshire is light, partic- 

 ularly the fore quarters, v/hich is considered by 

 good judges as an index of great milking quali- 

 ties ; but the pelvis is capacious and wide over 

 the hips. 



A cow-feeder in Glasgow, selling fresh milk, is 

 said to have realized two hundred and fifty dol- 

 lars in seven months from one good cow ; and it 

 is stated, on high authority, that a dollar a day 

 for six months of the year is no uncommon in- 

 come from good cows under similar circumstan- 

 ces, and that seventy-five cents a day is below 

 the average. But this implies high and judicious 

 feeding, of course ; the average yield, on ordinary 

 ^■^feed, would be considerably less. 



Youatt estimates the daily yield of an Ayrshire 

 cow, for the first two or three months after calv- 

 ing, at five gallons a day, on an average ; for the 

 next three months, at three gallons ; and'for the 

 next four months, at one gallon and a half. This 

 would be 850 gallons as the annual average of a 

 cow ; but, allowing for some unproductive cows, 

 he estimates the average of a dairy at 600 gallons 

 per annum for each cow. Three gallons and a 

 half of the Ayrshire cow's milk will yield one 

 and a half pounds of butter. He therefore reck- 

 ons 257 pounds of butter, or 514 pounds of 

 cheese, at the rate of 24 pounds to 28 gallons of 

 milk, as the yield of every cow, as a fair and per- 



ly or quite all red, and sometimes black and] haps rather low average,' in an Ayrshire dairy, 

 white; but the favorite color is red and white ] during the vear. Aiton sets the yield much high- 

 brightly contrasted, and by some, strawberry jer, saying that "thousands of the best Ayrshire 

 color is preferred. The head is small, fine, and jjaii-y-cows, when in prime condition and well 



clean ; the face long, and narrow at the muzzle, 

 with a sprightly yet generally mild expression ; 

 eye small, smart, and lively ; the horns short, 

 fine and slightly twisted upwards, set wide apart 

 at the roots ; the neck thin ; body enlarging from 

 fore to hind quarters ; the baci; straight and nai-- 

 row, but broad across the loins : joints rather 



fed, produce 1000 gallons of milk per annum ; 

 that in general three and three-quarters to four 

 gallons of their milk will yield a pound and a 

 half of butter ; and that 27A gallons of their milk 

 will make 21 pounds of full-milk cheese." Mr. 

 Rankin puts it lower — at about 050 to 7QlO gal- 

 lons to each cow ; on his own farm of inferior 



loose and open ; ribs rather^flat ; hind quarters soil, his dairy produced an average of 550 gallons 

 1 o ._,, r. " ' ' - only. 



One of the four cows originally imported into 

 this country by John P. Gushing, Esq., of Mas- 

 sachusetts, gave in one year 3864 quarts, beer 

 measure, or about 464 gallons, at ten pounds to 



rather thin ; bone fine ; tail long, fine and bushy 

 at the end ; hair generally thin and soft ; udder 

 light color and capacious, extending well ibtward 

 under the belly ; teats of the cow of medium 

 size, generally set regularly and wide apart; 



milk-veins prominent and well developed. The 'the gallon, being an average of over ten and a 



